The failure of the Slane Theocracy
by reisskeks
Summary: Rufly sets in after the arc in the Holy Kingdom. The Slane Theocracy is worried and tries to make a move in secret. Will they win or will they be bested by our beloved Overlord Ainz Ool Gown? And at which price will either outcome happen?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord.

Also this is my first story and I hope you will follow me along on an epic adventure that will have a (hopefully) epic main story and many little arcs to keep you entertained in times where the main story progresses slowly.

Prologue

In a dimly lit room somewhere in the Slane Theocracy men and women clad in high quality war gear readied themselves for an assault. A legendary undead had been spotted patrolling the Katze Plains. Normally this would not have been a problem. But his time the Thousand League Astrologer had confirmed that the undead at hand was a Death Knight, presumably under the control of the undead Sorcerer King. This made the appearance of the strong monster a good opportunity to get a sneaky assault on the Sorcerer Kingdom and also gather information and strength. To that end Kaire had been commanded to take control over it with "Downfall of Castle and Country" to bring it back to the Slane Theocracy. The Black Scripture was just a measure of precaution as Kaire had taken a long time to recover from her injuries so the Slane Theocracy's officials did not want to risk her life carelessly.

The captain of the Black Scripture addressed his comrades one last time before they departed:

"Remember, the monster is not our target. Our only goal is to keep lady Kaire safe and help her to use the power of the God's artifact.",

before he spoke his next sentence his expression darkened and together with the shadows of the dim light and his bright red eyes he himself had the appearance of a monster in disguise,

"Always be on high alert! This might be a trap of the Sorcerer King. Watch every shadow and be prepared at any moment to either evacuate or fight till our deaths."

It was not an inspiring speech. Neither should it be. The Undead had further expanded his influence to the Holy Kingdom. The priests of the south still stood firm against the undead. But the north had fallen into heresy completely. This filled everyone who knew of it with a sense of despair even though they did not have ties politically or in trading, the Holy Kingdoms priesthood was in close contact to the priests of the Slane Theocracy. So them turning to the Undead was a grave wound to the faith.

With this attack they hoped to regain a bit of ground and halt the advance of the undead forces. For this reason conviction to either win or die in battle could be seen on the faces of everyone present.

 _Two days after they got on their way to the last known location of the undead monster_

The last two days the atmosphere had been tense. The second seat of the Black Scripture, a man known as Time Turbulence, was thinking about various things. One of these was the extra seat, Zesshi Zetsumei. He was a citizen of the Slane Theocracy and member of the Black Scripture. As such he had of course learned to hate heteromorphs just as much as everyone else had. And he admitted that he was very ignorant when he first met Zesshi. She was half elf and half human and therefore a piece of shit like all the elves he had killed so far. But after being around her for some time he realized that she was different. She was not like all the weaklings he had slaughtered. She was strong and witty and honest to the gods he had to admit that he had a crush on her. This was why he always wanted to prove himself to show her that he was the strong mate she was looking for. He would always try his best to become stronger than the captain to impress her.

Lost in his thoughts about Zesshi the time had flown fast and the sun was already kissing the horizon. But just as they wanted to set up their camp at the outskirts of the Katze Plains one of them pointed something out that looked like a big black shadow. The only difference being that this shadow was indeed a being of physical mass. And now that they had started to alert it with battle preparations it turned his head to their direction and stared at them with dead eyes in a rotten face. The reaction to seeing this abnormality, this beast that send shivers down even the back of the legendary Tri Arts Fluder Paradyne. Their faces did not show fear but instead conviction. They knew they would easily win against this beast but they were still weary of an ambush or a trap set by Ainz Ool Gown.


	2. Chapter 1

**First off, thanks for the reviews. I had not expected to see such an interest in this story so fast.**

 **Now I have to apologize. It seemed like I messed up a bit by going against the canon a bit. However, now that I have already messed up I am not going to correct it and instead go a bit further away from canon and think later about how I can fix it. If you see anything that I got wrong, please contact me so I can fix it. However I will probably only fix stuff that are among the lines of getting level or spell names or anything like that wrong.**

 **No matter what I got wrong or will get wrong or dismiss I hope you can enjoy my story and my journey along to becoming a better writer :D**

 ** _Chapter One_**

 _One day before the Black Scripture encountered the Death Knight_

Ainz sat in his office in Nazarick. He had come back from the Holy Kingdom only a few days ago and had initially hoped to get some time off. But the moment he had teleported into his office he had seen the stacks of documents and therefore had to work all night and day without rest to try and understand them. He skimmed over some boring reports that he could not understand anyways. When he moved another paper almost mechanically the red orbs in his eye sockets lit up. He put the report made by Demiurge in front of him again and read it thoroughly. After that he immediately called over the Archfiend. Only seconds later a knock could be heard on the door and a maid opened it before she announced Demiurges arrival. With a hand gesture befitting of the supreme one he motioned for him to enter. Demiurge came up to the office desk and prostrated himself in front of his master. But this time around Ainz did not care to exchange many pleasantries before getting straight into the matter at hands.

"Demiurge, I have just read your report on the trap for the Slane Theocracy. Explain to me what you had in mind exactly."

With a wide smile on his face the floor guardian bowed deeply and answered:

"Of course my lord would want to control my work for any flaws. I had expected nothing less."

 _What is he on about? I did not see any flaws I just want to know what the hell is going on._ But instead of voicing his thoughts Ainz took up one of the regal poses he had learned and practiced and said with benevolence in his mighty voice:

"This is my obligation after all. As your superior I should make sure that you can grow and develop whilst still avoiding unnecessary mistakes."

With gleam in his eyes Demiurge began his explanation. He provided ample detail about the intricacies of his plan. As Ainz understood it he wanted to send a Death Knight, which of course while being only a mid tier undead in Nazarick was a legendary undead in the New World, to bait the Slane Theocracy into aggressive actions against the Sorcerer Kingdom. And he suspected that with some luck they might even bait out the one who had mind controlled Shalltear. At the mentioning of this Ainz got incredibly angry for a second before his emotion control kicked in. But this moment of anger was enough to have a wave of killing intend flow over everyone present that was so strong that even the devil that stood in front of Ainz had shivers running down his spine. But this only served to make Demiurge realize just how heavy the burden on his shoulders was. He had to get this right and would do everything to succeed.

"Sorry for this outburst. It was not intended towards you. But I suggest a change in our plan. Rather than killing them on the spot and use their dead corpses as prove of the attack, let them get away."

"If it's my lords wish it will be done" , Demiurge said it with such conviction that it made Ainz nauseous thinking about the unquestioned loyalty towards him. But this was no time to voice his concern.

"But do you understand the necessity of this move?"

Ainz wanted to know whether or not his proposal was sensible or not. But the reaction he got was way more extreme than he anticipated. His opposite started to shake visibly and one could see a glimpse of despair in the eyes.

"How could _I_ ever understand the grand schemes of the supreme one. After all I am but a humble servant."

 _Oh no! Not this again. When will he understand that he is the brightest mastermind in the whole world? But I guess its best like this. Otherwise his loyalty might crumble when he understands that he is the true mastermind behind all "my" schemes_.

"Then let me explain…."

He went on telling about a strategy he had read about. One would lay out bait and follow the servants up the chain of command as they delivered the news of their success. He was once again happy that one of his former guild mates had been a total nerd when it came to warfare so he had added lots of books to the great library that dealt with all kinds of war matters.

After he had finished Demiurge bowed so deep that his head was nearly on the ground and with a voice nearly moved to tears said:

"Thank you Lord Ainz. Too not only refrain from punishing me but to even go so far as to explain the unfathomable plan of the supreme one to a servant like me. You are truly a compassionate leader and I will do my best to live up to your expectations!"

He shouted the last part with gratitude in his eyes and an honest smile on his face that for once was not malicious in nature.

 _That evening in Demiurges private studies_

Demiurge was sitting at his desk grinding away with his superb intelligence to ensure that everything went according to his masters wishes. _What if I fail? I can't let the last supreme one down by failing to follow a simple task like this. But what if the humans are just too stupid to take the bait?_ And finally just in time to stop him from going mad one of the Hansos, he was graciously granted by Ainz-sama to better fulfill his missions, came back to report to him. _At least they took the bait._ He was temporarily calmed down a bit by these good news. But there were still preparations to be done and plans to be made so he could not enjoy this small victory very much.

 _At the same time in a remote place in the Slane Theocracy_

In front of the statues of the great six gods sat the top leadership of the Slane Theocracy. Apparent with one look at their red faces and the tone and volume they were speaking in it was a heated debate. In attendance were the six Cardinals and the Pontifex Maximus. The current topic at hand had obviously split them up quite a bit as they were discussing their choice to send out the Black Scripture with Kaire to capture the legendary Death Knight. The Cardinal of Water Ginedine Delan Guelfi an old man who had seen more in his long life time than most other humans could dream of was strictly against this plan from the start on.

"Can't you see that the Sorcerer King is playing with you? It is clearly a trap to make is go into an aggressive stance towards them. This would be the perfect opportunity for _that monster_ to get a solid _Casus Belli_ against us. I have said it before and I will say it again. We have to be careful with the undead. One wrong step and we could throw ourselves over the cliff we are currently holding onto. And with the loss of the Holy Kingdom our position is not unchallengeable like it was the last few hundred years."

Berenice Nagua Santini, the Cardinal of Fire and only female present nodded in agreement. She was the only one truly calm right now and she tried to go with reason instead of her hatred for the undead.

"Heresy! You should be ashamed of yourself! To question that we will overcome this is questioning the gods themselves!"

The enraged voice that accused them just now was Yvon Jasna Dracowa, the Cardinal of Light. He was by far the strongest divine magic caster of the Slane Theocracy and as such he was especially upset about this matter. To calm the situation down a bit Raymond Zarg Lauransan, the Cardinal of earth and also the commander of all Scriptures tried to argue:

"We are already very careful. We have deployed the strongest humanity has to offer and also an artifact of the gods. There is no way of loosing and they can't tell who killed the monster if it isn't going to be able to tell the story."

And to extinguish all doubt from his colleagues minds Maximilian Oreio Lagier, the Cardinal of Darkness took up one of the books that floated around him and started to explain:

"There is nothing to worry about. This Ainz Ool Gown is predictable to a certain degree. We know he wants to make the world believe that he is no threat. To do that he always respects laws, which is the sole reason he would even need a _Casus Belli_. We can use that against him. When the Death Knight is mind controlled we will immediately fall back and clean up after us. Then he can't prove we were behind that attack and he has not enough of a strong _Casus Belli_ to attack us. We just have to be decisive in our actions. And I believe that the Black Scripture, who has reached the pinnacle of human strength, is able to do that."

Cardinal Lauransan was quickly affirming this as he took pride in commanding the Scriptures. The room went silent for a bit before the Pontifex Maximus who had spoken little until now closed out the meeting with the words:

"Then it is settled. We are going to stay with the plan of action we decided on earlier. That should be it for today's meeting."

They all left contemplating the ideas exchanged in the meeting.

 **Hey thanks for reading. I hope my English was ok as I am not a native English speaker. Also I hope you liked this story so far and I promise you next time we are going to dive into the action head on. Also I would appreciate feedback on the chapter length. this one took me four hours to write and I won't be able to write this long often. Should I pump out shorter chapters more often** ** _or_** **should I take my time writing these relatively long chapters(this one is roughly 1800 words long without this afterword)?**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: No, Pervy, I am not going to make Time Turbulence a choirboy. At least not yet.**

 _In the throne room of Nazarick_

Every guardian that was available had gathered in the throne room around a display like device. Ainz had invited them to watch how humanities best would score against one Death Knight. Personally he did not think that one Death Knight would pose a challenge to them. After all they were rumored to be at least as strong as adamantite adventurers and stories were told about some of them even surpassing the highest ranked adventurers to reach into the realm of heroes. But that was just that. A story. And Ainz could not stake the lives of those in Nazarick on a story or rumor. This meant that watching their fight was not only a fun event where he could relax with his children but also an information gathering mission. And from his time back in Yggdrasil he knew all about those.

He was pulled out of his nostalgic thought by Mare pointing out:

"Look! They are attacking!"

So it had begun.

 _On the outskirts of the Katze Plains_

They had gone over their tactic multiple time so there was no need to pause now, in the face of this powerful enemy. The leader of the Black Scripture gave the sign to attack and the man known as Time Turbulence got filled with excitement. They split up their team. As their priority was to keep Kaire safe they had most of the team stand down and assume a defensive formation in a semi circle around her whilst she started to channel the power of _"Downfall of Castle and Country"_. Time Turbulence had tormented the leaders ears for hours to be placed in the group that would rush the opponent and take the agro. Even though all the members of the Scriptures were trained in resisting torture the captain gave in after a few hours. It was just not worth it for him to strain his mind for the childish endeavors of his comrade. So it was decided that Time Turbulence would lead the charge followed by Beaumarchais the Divine Chain and supported by Memento Mori the third seat of the Black Scripture.

Over motivated to show his strength Time Turbulence immediately rushed in and went for the Death Knights face. He expected a swift victory because the Death Knight was a physically big enemy and he was a nimble and quick as well as deadly swordfighter. But instead he felt something hard smash into his body, throwing him back multiple meters. If he had been able to see into the throne room of Nazarick he would have heard loud laughter at his cost. He hit the ground and was stunned for a second. _How? what hit me?_ He got up after receiving a minor healing spell from Memento and looked at the magic caster that wore black robes that made him look really similar to a Elder Lich and thanked him before getting back into the fight. Meanwhile Divine Chain Beaumarchais had tried to restrain the monster with no success. He was not on the height of his strength yet because he had been resurrected recently due to being killed by that damn vampire. But together and after changing their tactics to be more aware of the Death Knights quick movements they managed to slowly ware away on its defenses. Time Turbulence engaged for small hits with his rapier and then quickly disengaged before Beaumarchais would slash at it with his chains. They knew they did not have to kill this undead, otherwise they would not have continued fighting at this point as they started to feel their muscles tire. But they could have never admitted this. They were both to proud for that. Due to their pride and exhaustion they became careless and got wounded multiple times. Of course these wounds were no problem for their support to heal but they showed how truly strong the undead were when it came to drawn out fights. Just as they started to tire to a worryingly degree a dragon, seemingly born from light, came from the main groups direction and hit the legendary adversary. Everyone held their breath until Kaire confirmed that the Death Knight was indeed under her control. They were professionals but this once they allowed themselves to cheer for a second before getting serious again. Their next mission was maybe even more difficult: Moving the undead to the capital, Kami Miyako, and present it to the Cardinals.

In his mind Time Turbulence was already back in the Capital telling his dear Zesshi about his heroic feat in this battle against the undead. For the rest of the day the smile would not leave his face once. _Finally! I have defeated a monster that even the old man Fluder could not defeat. This will show her just how strong I am. And how strong our children would be._

 _In the throne room of Nazarick at the start of the fight_

Ainz hoped he was mistaken. This is why he did not say anything when he saw the elderly women with the white cloth on that has a majestic dragon embroidered on it. But he had to admit that together with the hole in the fabric it made for solid evidence for this being _"Downfall of Castle and Country"._ No one else present knew what it looked like exactly so the atmosphere was rather light and anticipating. As the fight started the guardians began to discuss the tactics and the strength of the fighters. Cocytus pointed out how well the enemies adapted when faced with a new situation. They were all curios to why the women in white was so overly protected. Then Ainz saw the dawning of understanding on Demiurges face. But because his lord kept quiet so did he.

When the dragon shaped light emerged from the robe they still did not understand. However they understood that it was bad as suddenly an aura of despair and killing intend seemed to physically press them downwards. Immediately they sought eye contact with their master to find out why he was so angry. Their biggest fear was that they had somehow disappointed the last supreme one. And as fast as this wave of pressure had swept over them it had disappeared. In moments like these Ainz was annoyed at his passive skill to nullify emotions. He wished nothing more than to indulge in his anger and show the Slane Theocracy what it meant when the magic caster supreme was mad at them. At the same time he knew that that would antagonize the whole world and lead to a world war.

With only the slightest bit of uncertainty Demiurge asked:

"Does that mean that they are the ones responsible for our suffering?"

"Indeed. The effect you just witnessed was caused by the world item _"Downfall of Castle and Country"_. This of course leads to the only viable conclusion, that they are responsible."

The grim tone and contents of his words made clear to everyone what this meant. The Slane Theocracy had forced Ainz to kill one of his own and infuriated him to a point where a normal man would have become mad. And now Ainz would make sure that the top brass of the Slane Theocracy felt his anger, felt his despair and felt his pain. He just needed to make sure that the other human nations understood that his rage and his reaction was justified. However Shalltear did not seem to be bothered with such things at all. She prostrated herself before her beloved master and with tears of anger and an enraged voice bagged him:

"Please master, send me. I will obliterate them and make up for my failings. I will show them the true strength of Nazarick."

A sentiment that was shared by many of the guardians in attendance. Nonetheless he could not give in and had to deny their satisfaction. While they were disappointed they did not dare to challenge his decision. After all he was the supreme one who's words were law.

For now they would continue as planed and observe from afar.

 **A/N A few things I have to address. First of all, I have no clue what the name of the third seat of the BS is so I just named him Memento Mori because the pictures I found regarding him resembled an Elder Lich imo. Secondly, holy sh*t I have seriously underestimated the effort that goes into a story. And last but not least, I hope that this chapter was satisfactory for everyone. I tried writing it a bit longer without completely loosing the ability for uploading rather frequent. I would have made it longer but I just think this is a great point for a quick brake after which I will introduce side arc to mix things up a bit. If you had fun reading so far or if you have criticism please write a review and let me know (another thing I have underestimated: how great reviews are ;D)**


	4. Chapter 3

_On the way to Kami Miyako_

Moving about with a legendary undead proved to be easier than they had expected. They were able to mostly lean back and avoid drawing any attention. This gave Time Turbulence some opportunity to think. He had never faced an enemy as impressive as a Dead Knight before and he hoped that Zesshi never had to fight one too. That would give him the chance to exaggerate his victory a bit. But he had to hope that she would not ask the captain what had happened because he had gotten a twenty minute long lecture about how careless he was and how he had to be more concentrated when fighting strong opponents. But he did not think it would be a problem as Zesshi was not only well renown for her fighting skills and pure strength but also for notoriously ignoring all reports given to her. He could not help but have a sheepish smile plastered on his face.

Moving through the countryside rather swiftly the group came closer to the capitol Kami Miyako at a considerable speed. Slowly other members of the Black Scripture started to smile as well. Some of them probably had family. Rumors had it, that the captain himself was planning for family life himself. Others already lived a kind of split life. At day they were the deadliest force of humanity and at night they were the best parents or lovers.

 _One day later, a few kilometers away from the capitol_

Normally one would rarely see the six cardinals at the same place. IF one did however see them together it was in a setting reflecting their status. Where they sat now was completely different and it made them stand out even more. The only reason for them to be in this unworthy establishment, it was just a provisory shack made from cheap wooden planks, was the legendary monster that was brought before them by the Black Scripture. Another thing stood out. Even for those of the Black Scripture it was an uncommon sight. Next to the Pontifex Maximus and the six cardinals stood none other than Zesshi Zetsumei. Of course she was just here in case the undead would try anything funny with the top brass of the Theocracy present. Nonetheless Time Turbulence had the feeling that his heart wound pound out of his chest. The Pontifex Maximus had given him hope to score points with Zesshi because he had personally complimented the Black Scripture for their outstanding accomplishment. But to his horror the only person that mattered for him did seem impressed. Still he clung to the hope that she was just so stunned by the monsters overwhelming presence that she could not bring herself to react to it. A little voice nagged in the back of his had that permanently tormented him and taunted him trying to convince him that she was just not interested in him. He just did his best to drown out the voice in his head and focus on the now. The captain had just finished a ruff report and the Cardinal of Darkness began to ask questions. He proceeded to write down everything in books that were floating around him. It was only logical that he as a scholar would be interested in the facts and statistics surrounding the monsters strength and more. To answer him properly the captain elaborated on some points. When he got to the part of them fighting the Death Knight Time puffed up his chest with pride as he hearing the praise to his name. Or so he should have heard. Instead he was rebuked once again for acting careless and without self-control. In this moment he wanted the earth to split open and devour him. He barely had the courage to look towards Zesshi and when he saw her eyes and facial expression his heart shattered. In the short moment he had lifted his gaze high enough to see her face he had realized that she had a smug smile on her face. It could have meant everything but in this context and in consideration of her own strength it was most likely meant to mock them. He wanted to cry out that it was not fair to be so harsh as he had won anyways. But he was still in the presence of the honorable leaders of their nation so he had to behave. But he wanted nothing more than to cry and after the meeting was over and they were dismissed he did exactly that. The perfect chance to prove himself had become a cause of sorrow for him instead. With such dark thoughts he drifted off into sleep.

 _In Ainz Ool Gowns office in E-Rantel_

"I thank you all for coming on such short notice." Ainz said in a regal tone to the people kneeling before them. They were the representatives of the surrounding countries. Emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix, an ambassador to the Re-Estize and King Caspond of the Holy Kingdom. None of them knew as of yet why they were called. Caspond and Jircniv both had relaxed expressions on their faces. They both knew that nothing could be done anyways and that they had no other choice but to follow the invitation. Even though their reasons were different they still had a certain calm to them because of their mindset. The opposite was true for the ambassador, who was a voluptuous noble called Sir Pervy. He was obviously not sure how to behave or what to expect. He had left his best years behind him long ago and had also fallen into disfavor with the King and his face showed a range of expressions. One moment he seemed to want to wet himself in fear of the strong undead king before him, the next moment his gaze wandered over the perfect bodies of the maids around them. His eyes clearly gave away that he was thinking naughty thoughts. But at the words that were spoken next he choked on his own saliva.

"We are going to war with the Slane Theocracy. I invited you to discuss our reasoning."

But it was not only the horny nobleman who was shocked at these words. Neither Caspond nor Jircniv had been informed prior to this meeting so even though he had years of experience Jircniv's face still looked like he had run into a massive wall. Confused he asked:

"Excuse me my lord? You have to jest. Why would you want to attack them?"

"Thank you for asking. Let me show you."

With this he summoned multiple displays in front of the gathered audience and showed them what had happened and what was still happening. Their mouths stood open for more than one reason. First, they just were impressed at the display of strength on both sides. Then they also wondered why the hell someone would attack a servant of the Sorcerer King. Of course Jircniv once had tried to conspire against him together with the Slane Theocracy but even they had to accept that his strength was so superior that even their Scriptures would not be enough. Even in this one fight one saw how much it took to take only _ONE_ Death Knight out. And they had seen the Sorcerer King having hundreds of these legendary monsters at his command.

There was silence between them for quite some time as everyone tried to process what that meant for them. In the head of the man formally known as the _Bloody Emperor_ thoughts raced. _Should I send my own troops? OR could we actually win against him? No, don't be silly. You have seen his strength. The Slane Theocracy can't do anything but pray at this point. So should I get on his majesties good side by offering full support for his invasion? Is there even a different option for me at this point? No. He has probably planned this all the way from the beginning. It is weird though. He seems to be genuinely angry at the Slane Theocracy. What could they have done to anger him? I probably don't even know. Poor bastards._ But he had to make the right move to protect his own citizens first. With conviction in his voice and the sincerest smile he could muster he bowed and said:

"This insult is straight up a declaration of war on you. Of course we will stand behind your efforts with the full might of our military."

After having encountered the undead so often he felt like he could even see a little smirk on the bony face of Ainz. After him Caspond excused himself for not being able to provide any military support for him as the Holy Kingdom still had to be rebuild but he promised to give him full political support. That only left ambassador Pervy to give the answer of the Re-Estize Kingdom. And even he, who was distracted by the beauty of the women around him, had felt the killing intent of the King in front of him when speaking of the Theocracy. His noble clothes which seemed like peasants attire in comparison to the cloth used in Nazarick were drenched in cold sweat. When he finally spoke he stumbled over his words and constantly averted his eyes.

"I… I was send only to retrieve in.. information. I can't give you the p… permission in his majesties name."

With another wave of killing intent being unleashed by both Demiurge on the right and Albedo on the left of Ainz he answered in a mocking way:

"I think you misunderstood my intention. I am not seeking _your_ permission. I just had the courtesy to _inform_ you of my decision to annihilate the Slane Theocracy."

This was too much for the old ambassador. He soiled himself and lost his conscience. But even Jircniv and Caspond who both were used to the killing intent had so swallow hard. Jircniv had already guessed as much as that it would not be a pleasant awakening for the leadership of the Slane Theocracy but he would have never expected that much anger from the Sorcerer King. He had the feeling that something else had happened before between those two. Something both nations could not openly admit to. But then it made even less sense for the Cardinals or the Pontifex to order an attack on a servant of his majesty. Whilst he was in thought the unconscious man had been removed from the office. Now Jircniv felt the red orbs that replaced the eyes of Ainz resting upon him. He explained:

"Jircniv. I will not need your man to march into the Slane Theocracy. They would just die unnecessarily in a war that is not theirs. Instead you will secure the border. No one can be allowed to escape. Though I wish no harm to those who have not done harm to us we still need to be careful that not one of those responsible escape. Your man will move through E-Rantel to secure the northern border. We will send somebody to negotiate with the elves even though I think they would protect their border anyways. And on the east and south they are naturally restricted by water and mountain. Is your task clear to you?"

Jircniv nodded and they were quickly dismissed after that.

On his way home Jircniv felt nothing but pity for the fools of the Slane Theocracy.

 _In the throne room of the Re-Estize Kingdom_

The court of the king was busy as ever. but when Pervy walked in even the nobles that did not like him shut up to hear what he had to say after his travel to the monsters domain. He prostrated himself before his king and started his report. The expressions on the faces surrounding him got gradually darker as the report went on. At the end he had left out a few details that would not benefit his standing with the crown. The king himself was in deep thought. The nobles of the noble faction tried to convince him to send support to the Slane Theocracy but the king knew it was only a political ploy to further wither away at his power. if he send support he would risk the whole kingdom. But if he stayed put and did nothing they could accuse him of secretly supporting the undead. _Don't they understand that this is no time for such pitiful power struggles?_ His supporters tried to argue that exact point to discredit the other factions criticism. But this could not be allowed to go on for any longer. They had to make a decision as one united country. He put everything into one risky maneuver. He asked the present nobles to take a vote in this matter. this way they were all partly responsible for the outcome of this decision. And oh wonder, suddenly only few actually voted in favor of aiding the Slane Theocracy.

 _Back in Nazarick_

All the guardians but Gargantua and Victim were gathered to discuss the plan of action that would be taken to invade. Shalltear was of course the first to make a suggestion:

"Just send me my lord. I can take care of them on my own."

"And have all the fun for you whilst still having the possibility of failing?"

Albedo spit out like venom with a smug grin on her inhumanly beautiful face.

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

"Grrrrrrr"

Both were staring each other down with distorted faces and unleashing their full killing intent. Ainz interrupted them and called them back to order. Then he laid out his own plan after no one other spoke:

"We have to make sure they know what despair is before dying. For this reason I have asked Jircniv to secure the northern border. Sebas is already under way to the elves to ask them to cooperate and block the western border. Then we will move in from E-Rentel and use Death Knights and other low tier undead to fight them. We will however take extra care of those who are in charge. But we will take care of that once we sit on top of a mountain of dead priests and soldiers in their capitol."

Mare, innocent as ever, asked:

"But.. but why are we targeting the priests? Aren't they only there to help people?"

Ainz chuckled. It was time for some story telling.

"Back in the day before I was powerful, before the guild _Ainz Ool Gown_ existed heteromorphs were openly hated and hunted down by other Players. I myself was nearly killed by some snobby humans before Touch Me came and saved me. The whole idea was to band together and become strong enough to support and help low level heteromorphs. Those priests are exactly like the human Players of Yggdrasil. They preach human supremacy and try to suppress and exterminate heteromorphs. The fact that they have a Scripture named _Holocaust Scripture_ should be a big hint to everyone who is able to think for themselves."

The faces of the guardians around him displayed an interesting range of expressions. Some were disgusted or angry but most were just interested and attentively listening. They were always so eager to learn something about their creators and their history that every time Ainz brought them or the old days in the guild up, no matter how trivial, they treated it as valuable gifts. in moments like these Ainz was always torn apart between nostalgia and pride. He wished to be reunited with his friends but he was also very proud for their creations and their legacy.

For now he had to sadly return from the nostalgic mist of the story telling and go back to planning he had to move a lot of Death Knights and Skeletons and Zombies around and also monitor what happened with Sebas in the Elven Kingdom. But he promised his subordinates that they would have enough opportunities in this war to prove themselves and have fun with the Scriptures and other strong enemies.

With this meeting out of the way he readied himself for battle as always he wanted to be prepared for everything and whilst preparing asked himself if the man in the Slane Theocracy knew what was coming.

Unbeknown to him, his enemies were sleeping like clueless babies without regard for the incoming demise of their nation.

 **A/N I hope you liked this one. I tried to go into more detail and start to flesh out some of the characters a bit. Anyways, I plan on doing an intermission chapter in the Elven Kingdom next. I am not sure how much detail it will have or if I am just going to focus on Sebas negotiations with the Elven King. Also I may expand this story a bit further and not just take care of the Slane Theocracy but I don't know if I should even put that in this story or have another one with the side arcs. As I said I am a first time writer so I am still trying to figure stuff out. Btw. its 3 am right now so if there are any brain farts in this chapter please point them out to me.**

 **Reviews are always appreciated**

 **Fun fact: My word spellchecker wanted to make "brainfarts" into "brain arts"**


	5. Intermission part one

**Intermission in the Elf Kingdom**

Sebas rode in a carriage that did not stand out as much as the one his master used to ride in. But it was still of outstanding quality on the outside with golden ornaments and delicate artworks depicting the banner of the Sorcerer Kingdom. Only on its inside however you would get a sense for its superb qualities. Not a single bump on the road could be felt in the carbine and even extended rides would not make ones rear uncomfortable. Of course Sebas could have taken a gate to the capitol of the Elf Kingdom directly. When asked about this his supreme master had naturally come up with an explanation surpassing his own imagination and considerations. As they had not made contact with the elves before and were not sure how much intelligence the elves had they had to be careful not to intimidate them with Nazaricks power and glory. Sebas did not mind riding for a bit on his masters command as it was not only his duty and joy to serve the last supreme one but also gave him time to think over his strategy.

Unbeknownst to the guardians Ainz had given him not only the mission to establish diplomatic relations but also to scout out whether or not this nation would be suitable to send Mare and Aura to. Currently the elves were the closest species to the twins and Ainz was a carrying ruler and wanted to comfort them by surrounding them with similar people.

This made it even more important to have a good plan to convince the Elf King to ally with them and establish good relations. To that end Sebas had been entrusted with different valuables to present to the other party. These ranged from simple gold offerings over rare gemstones to even some magic items that were of unbelievable value in this world but of no use to his master who's power had long surpassed the point at which those items could be of any use.

Prepared like this he leaned back in his carriage and awaited the first contact with the elven scouts ( **A/N so at this point I am confused. Is elven the correct word? I find it being used elsewhere but am not sure because Google and word spell-check it and don't acknowledge it as a word. If you know more than me I would love to know what's correct. For now I am using elven and elf kind of interchangeable.** ) they had previously sighted with scrying magic. He did not have to wait for long as only minutes later an arrow came flying from the cover of a tree and was aimed directly at the horses eyes. It had no effect as the two horses pulling the majestic carriage were undead and those were nearly resistant to arrows. After the arrow had failed to stop the vehicle multiple elves jumped down from trees and came out of hiding spots in front and behind them. In every other situation this aggressive attack on a servant of the Sorcerer King would have been enough of a casus belli to start war over. Sebas stayed cool none the less as this was also something his master had foreseen in his infinite wisdom. After all the Elf Kingdom was at war with the Slane Theocracy and Sebas appeared to be human. With an apologetic smile on his face he stepped outside and introduced himself with a bow.

"I am Sebas Tian the Iron Butler of Nazarick. I have been send by his majesty Ainz Ool Gown of the Sorcerer Kingdom to engage in diplomatic relations. I would appreciate if you could escort me to your capitol and introduce me to your diplomats."

The scouts had a look of confusion to them that was understandable. Sebas gave them time to discuss and find an answer for him. After a minute or so the most senior looking elf stepped forward and introduced himself as a certain scout leader Woodward he signaled him to follow and for the rest of the trip thru the forest he was accompanied by the scouts. Sebas looked outside to familiarize himself with the landscape a bit and saw even more hateful eyes and drawn bows directed at him. Because of his escort the arrows stayed drawn and nothing of importance happened along the way.

The first thing in sight was the crescent lake itself. It form and its crystal clear water reminded Sebas of the moon in the sky. Then he saw trees that were used as homes. Everyone seemed very busy and worn down. The streets were also a shame for any nations capitol as they were poorly maintained and dirty. In contrast to the tree houses was the palace of the Elf King. It was made of white marble with colorful windows made of glass that were surely made by the best artisans of the kingdom. On closer inspection Sebas realized that the palace was only slightly less neglected than the roads that led to it. Parts of the artwork that were the once surely pristine windows was broken out and the marble of the palace had cracks and pieces of statues and ornaments were broken off and disregarded on an empty spot near the palace. Sebas frowned at this sight. Even the Re-Estize Kingdom had not fallen so deep to have such a big disregard for their royalties public image. But this could only be good for his mission, could it? If they had so little resources left after waging war with the Slane Theocracy for so long that could only make them more perceptive to the gold Sebas carried with him. This thought changed his frown back into a smile. His operation was seemingly off to a good start already.

 _In the Elf Kings personal chambers_

"My lord, a human representative of the Sorcerer Kingdom seeks an audience with a diplomatic representative. He is currently on his way to this palace."

The servant that had delivered this unpleasant message to him was bowing so deep that their face was touching the ground. He was annoyed. Did the Theocracy finally come to surrender? But what was the talk about Sorcerer Kingdom than? He had never heard about his place in his whole life. Was it part of the Theocracy and their schemes or was it some nation from far away. It did not matter to him in the end. He would send the lords and ladies of his nation first to see what this human was up to. If it was interesting he would allow them to be graced by his presence. He sent out his servants to call the nobility and assemble them in one of the halls of his palace.

The servant stumbled away in utmost fear of being to slow in their retreat.

 _Meanwhile Sebas had reached the palace_

The eyes of the welcoming committee nearly popped out when they saw the majestic quality of the carriage pulled by the undead horses, something none of them had ever seen or even heard of before. Only with great effort and driven by the fear of punishment by their king if they messed up they managed to come back to their senses and great Sebas with the respect that an envoy to a foreign nation deserved. Pleasantries were exchanged and the group made their way inside. One could see that even though the palace had been neglected for a long time it once was impressive. The ceilings were high and from them hung chandeliers that while not able to rival those in Nazarick had to have been of the best quality that existed in the New World. And contrary to the outside the inside was actually clean with maids and other kinds of servants scurry around the place.

The thing that drew in Sebas attention was not the grandness of the building but a few of the paintings on the walls. They always showed the same elf but that didn't matter. What did was that this elf had heterochromatic eyes. As far as Sebas knew only the twins and one other person that had been seen at the place where the Cardinals of the Slane Theocracy had met with the Black Scripture. This could possibly mean that this person had to be strong for the standards of this world, possibly even holding up to Nazarick standards. When he wanted to ask who the paintings portrayed one of the nobles beat him to it by simply stating that all the paintings in the palace showed their king. At first Sebas thought that that was a sign of utmost dedication and he as a servant to the one and only supreme being could respect such dedication as he knew the feeling quite well. But something was not right. No servant of his great master could hide a gleam of fanatic dedication in their eyes. But these here servants of the Elf King had only faint disdain in their eyes.

For now he would have to let this unsettling detail aside as the group of nobles and servants had already entered a big conference hall were a table made of fine dark wood that stood in contrast to the white of the marble all around them was set up. Looking around Sebas found that the walls were bare with the exception of one more portrait of who he now knew to be the Elf King. This further indicated that the war had dwindled down their resources to a point where they could not afford expensive decorations for rooms that were not used extensively. This theory was supported by the fact that contrary to the hallway he had just come through this room was only lit by the light coming through the shattered windows and some candles on the walls instead of an impressive chandelier.

The noble that took up the seat on the head of the table was a relatively young looking elf. In general Sebas noticed that all but one noble was young. Not as young as Aura and Mare and he knew that judging the age of elves was hard if you could only depend on their looks but they were by no means immortal. Young in this context just meant that they were _only_ a few hundred years old while he estimated the only old noble to be at least a thousand years old. It was a female elf with a face and eyes that expressed the sorrow of having seen too much for one single individual to bear. Furthermore he noticed that she was the only noble who did not wear any jewelry or rich clothes. But he was not here to make assumptions on events of the past or find out every nobles stand in the court of the king.

Just as he redirected his eyes back to the noble who sat on the head of the table and therefore was the leader of this meeting said noble addressed him.

 **A/N So this is only part one of the intermission. I decided to stop here and give you this part because 1: I am not used to writing long chapters in one go and 2: because I don't know how long I will be sitting at the second part so I don't want to let you wait too long. I will either put it out completely in the next 24 hours or I will divide the intermission in three parts and give you guys the next 1800-2000 words in under 24 hours, depending on how long and concentrated I write after taking a quick brake I might even put it out in a few hours already.**

 **Until the I hope you have fun with this first part. And I would also appreciate feedback on whether I should split too long chapters or let you wait longer to put it out as one.**


	6. Intermission part two

Intermission part two

Just as he redirected his eyes back to the noble who sat on the head of the table and therefore was the leader of this meeting said noble addressed him.

"My name is lord Pleasant. For your time in our kingdom I will be your contact as well as the leader of today's council. Please excuse my shortcomings ambassador Sebas but could you tell me more about the Sorcerer Kingdom? Admittedly we have been quite occupied with the war against the Theocracy but it is quite unsettling that none of us ever heard of your kingdom. Of course no offence intended."

Only because of Sebas' commitment to his mission did he manage to not frown at the nobles words. They were quite insulting as they were and on top of that the noble had used a smug voice that sounded like it was made to weasel at the feet of everyone more powerful to leach of them. Sebas managed to keep calm and went on to explain to them:

"The Sorcerer Kingdom is a nation that was founded recently be the most supreme being, my master and the Sorcerer King himself Ainz Ool Gown. In our beautiful nation everyone can live in peace and develop to their fullest potential. Furthermore, humans and non-humans can coexist under my lords rule. The Sorcerer King brings prosperity to all who faithfully serve under him."

Whilst he listed all the great aspects of his nation he could not keep himself from smiling. And how could he? He was advertising the greatest nation to ever exist. But the nobles displayed expressions contrary to his. Worst was lord Pleasant. He not only had the nerve to talk down to him in regard to his masters great creation but he had the audacity to frown in disgust after being educated on this nations greatness. But it could not be helped. He made a mental note for his secondary mission. If this was the reaction he would get it was probably not good to sent Aura and Mare to this nation. The hope was that their minds were changeable. For now it was of most importance to form an alliance against the Slane Theocracy so that none would be able to escape. To this avail he broke the silence:

"Is something wrong?"

"IS SOMETHING WRONG?!",

lord Pleasant spit out unpleasantly,

"You suggest living next to filthy humans? Ahhhh but what did I expect from someone like _you_ ",

he added spitefully. This seemed to go downhill really fast. Somehow he had to pull this around. If he only had the intellect of the guardian overseer Albedo or the archfiend Demiurge. They could have come up with a plan that would ensure the success of this mission. To his luck help came from an unexpected side.

"Stop being so obnoxious."

A calm voice, belonging to the elder women stated. After she had shut down the young noble she addressed Sebas directly:

"Please excuse lord Pleasant. He is usually way more composed. But this war has effected us in more negative ways than positive ones. Let us hear why you are here before taking a stance towards your nation. So why have you come?"

Sebas was most thankful for this help. Otherwise his mission might have ended right now and right here. After letting a few moments pass in silence to emphasize the following words he made his intention known, now again with a perfect polite poker face and emotionless voice:

"My king has send me to see if we could form an alliance against the Slane Theocracy. We would ask of you only to secure your border with the Theocracy and handover everyone who tries to flee without harming them if they are civilians. If they are military or other leading positions you might do as you please if you hand them over alive. As compensation the Sorcerer King would be willing to hand over a reward for your help. I have the necessary funds for a payment in coin with me already."

Their eyes went wide. Even the nobles that had refrained from speaking before started to discuss his proposal with each other. After all they were on the retreat already and resources were running low. No matter how the conflict between the Sorcerer King and the Slane theocracy would end the Elf Kingdom could only gain from it. If the Sorcerer's troops were slaughtered in open combat they would get money to pay for new weaponry and rations. However, in case their new allay put up a fight they would at least gain coin and time to replenish their strength. And for the unlikely event of the Slane Theocracy falling they would not only get time and coin but they would gain peace, a commodity that was more valuable than every piece of gold in the whole world.

The implications of such an alliance were obvious to everyone but the young noble. With fury in his eyes he shouted at Sebas:

"How dare you! We have fought this war for decades! And now you want to come in and take the victory from under noses after we fought so hard and not even allow us to take the spoils of war we fought so hard to gain?! NEVER! You can go back to this nation of yours were elves are blind to the foul character of humans and try scamming them out of their riches! Who do you even think you speak to? I am lord Pleasant, the second of command in this nation of proud elves. And as soon as the king intervenes the humans will beg for mercy."

From the expressions on the faces of the surrounding elves Sebas could tell that they were shocked to the same extend as he was. As a servant of Nazarick he knew better than to be provoked by such stupidity. And usually he was a rather level headed and considered man. But this time he could not guarantee for this fools safety. If he knew what was best for him he would let the women speak. To stop this dispute from descending into violence he tried to calm the nobles mind by making his first offer:

"My king has permitted me to pay you out 10.000.000 gold coins immediately as tribute for this alliance."

When they heard the sum offered one noble to his left fainted and slumped to the ground. But the others had eyes that wanted to pop out as well. Of course this was a generous offer by his master. But Sebas also knew that the resurrection of Shalltear had not even put a dent into Nazaricks savings. And the ten million gold coins were minted as New World gold coins which meant that they were "only" worth five million Yggdrasil gold coins. This in turn was only one percent of Shalltear's resurrection cost which did not put so much as a dent in Nazaricks savings. For the elves who were in dire need of money and resources right now that must have been a fortune worth killing for. **A/N For reference: According to the LN one bulk of barley (a kind of grain used to make bread) is worth 1 Yggdrasil gold coin. A month of labor comes out at around 0.3 gold coins and a scroll containing Tier 1 magic would cost 0.55 gold coins. So 5.000.000 is a lot. But Nazarick has the combined riches of 41 supreme beings. So it's nothing to them. As stated in the light novel, Ainz is just stingy.**

But lord Pleasant was not impressed. He already opened his mouth to shut Sebas down again, just to be shut down be the other nobles instead. The unimaginable amount of money that was now in their reach seemed to embolden them to take a stance against him. Quickly a circle was formed around him and a heated discussion enflamed in which everyone tried to convince him to accept. In the end his face was redder than a tomato and he grudgingly made the concession to inform the king of his proposal and then left the room to seek an audience with the king.

After the quite unpleasant lord pleasant had left the room's atmosphere was still tense. in search for more information Sebas decided it best to ask the old female elf.

"Elder you seem to be the more reasonable representative. Might I inquire how it comes that such a heated temperament is leading the nobles and not you?"

She smirked and shook her head in an expression that reminded one of a grandmother teaching their grandchildren a obvious truth about the world:

"It is like it always has been and always will be in politics. Those who raise a voice in defiance of the king of their nation will without a doubt loose favor with the king. And that can in the worst cases not only cost you your title and land but also your life. This is also why everyone here is so young. Those old ones that were intelligent enough to see that it is better to lead from the shadows than die for an unreachable goal are now generals and servants in high position. I have stayed behind to play the nobleman's game and direct the misguided efforts of those too young to understand in the right direction.

Oh excuse me, I haven't introduced myself yet! I am lady Vasilissa and if my brother hadn't been so strong it would be me sitting on the throne right now. It is the only reason I am still alive whilst opposing him."

Pieces started to fall into their places and a picture was formed. A picture of a ruthless king that allows no opposition but his own sister and that puts nobles in charge that would gladly sacrifice their whole nation and all of their people for their pride. Compared to the one and only Ainz Ool Gown the picture was pitiful like the appearance of the palace that had started to degrade long ago. Now he could only hope that the information he was given would help him in any way shape or form as lord Pleasant returned to lead the group to the private chambers of the Elf King.

The sight that laid itself out before Sebas toped even his worst imagination. Contrary to the rest of the palace this room was filled with riches and artwork of the finest quality. And the king that sat upon the opulent throne made of pure gold and decorated with fine ornaments and gemstones in all colors of the rainbow was one with an aura of strength around him. But in his eyes it was easy to read that with the strength came the arrogance of the strong. None the less he bowed deep while the elves around him, including the fragile lady Vasilissa, kowtowed. Now Sebas understood why opposition was so spars. Compared with the power of Nazarick he was not weak but by no means one of the strongest. In the New World however it was a completely different story. He was at least stronger than Zero or Gazef Stronoff. Silence reigned after his assessment. The king wanted to make sure that the envoy knew his place before the supposedly "strongest" being of the known world.

When He finally did speak, he did so without the regal elegance that the supreme one displayed. In comparison the Elf King was blend and had a boring undertone to his voice.

"So you think that I, King of all elves, would accept a request of a human like you? Laughable! But I have to say the amount of money you offer is quite impressive. How can I trust you to provide it if we were to agree on a deal?"

Instead of an answer Sebas pulled out a [Floating Board] with the exact amount of gold on it from his pocket dimension. The heterochromatic eyes lit up with gear for just a second, shore naught that nobody but Sebas noticed it. After this flare up of emotions the elf went back to wearing a mask of no emotions at all.

"Is that supposed to impress me? Ha-ha! Fool! Why should I need this gold if I will conquer the Slane Theocracy soon anyway."

Sebas was confused. _If the Elf King had plans to invade the Slane Theocracy then why now? Why after so many of his people had died? Why would he wait till his forces were being pushed back deeper into the forest? Or has he swallowed the bait already and is just greedy and taking the gamble to get more._ Whatever the answer was, Sebas did not need it right now. He needed to return to his master with results. So concessions had to be made. To the finely stacked pile of golden coins he added a ruby that was bigger than any of the presents heads. This alone would have driven up the price by many thousand pieces of gold. But the king did not cave. With teeth-gritting Sebas pulled out one of the magic items he had with him. His master had told him that the items he had given him were not worth much for Nazarick. But just knowing that he had to give an item created by his own master to such an arrogant fool made Sebas sick. But for the sake of the mission he revealed a summoning crystal that held a summoning spell for an Death Knight in it. At this point even the Elf King was happy to accept the terms.

The tension in the air started to fizzle away and everyone could relax a bit after further conflict had been avoided. The details were worked out and a document prepared by Demiurge was filled out with the details, ready to be signed. However, after seeing the signature on the contract Sebas frowned:

"Your majesty with all due respect but you need to sign a contract with your full name."

Looking down at the paper he had realized that the Elf King had just pt the word _King_ as a signature. That was just as strange as the fact that Sebas did not remember hearing the name of the king once before. When confronted the Elf King just answered:

"Well, I don't need to write more. I am the only and the greatest king ever."

Time seemed to freeze as a head with heterochromatic eyes spun through the room. No one had even seen Sebas move. But with one smooth chop with his hand he had ended the life of this fanatic. Immediately he knew that it was a mistake. He had just spent so much time negotiating a deal. And on every other day he would have hid his feelings behind a mask of indifference and moved on, like a good butler should do. But today he had to tolerate so many insults to his master that this was the drop that made the barrel spill. He would have to watch out that beheading people who claimed to be greater than his master would not become a habit of him.

 **A/N Ok, maybe I have miscalculated how long this would be. Seems like you will be stuck with three parts intermission, sorry. I hope this end was not to radical for you to follow, if you think this would be completely unreasonable for such a level headed individual like Sebas I would like to direct you attention towards the fight Sebas v. Six Arms where he was pretty pissed at the fact that an Elder Lich claimed to be an "Undead King". If you liked it stay onboard for the journey even though I am a bit slow, if you did not like it I am sorry but now you have read it and nothing can be done for you, besides putting you out of your misery ;D**


	7. Intermission part three

**A/N Sorry for taking so long. I currently have some health problems to deal with, so less time to write. But I will try my best to keep this story updated. Enjoy :D**

After spinning in mid air for a few times, covering the surroundings with blood, the Elf King's head hit the ground with an unsettling sound of soft flesh smashing against a hard surface. His eyes still depicted the fool's arrogance he had when he insulted Ainz Ool Gown with his statement of supremacy. Even he, the supposedly strongest of the New World, died not knowing what hit him. Moments went by before the first people started to react. Some of the young nobles had not been in their position for long and had grown up sheltered and sucking up to the Elf King. Seeing their leader die and being covered by the blood spurting out of his severed neck evoked a wide range of reaction, many of which were not suited for nobles. From screams of madness and despair over two of them losing their consciousness to one going as far as soiling his noble garments while falling to the ground. Sebas knew this would not please the supreme one and he did not like the possibility of disappointing his master, again. He could vividly remember the feeling of shame he felt after having his loyalty questioned in the capital of the Re-Estize kingdom. And now he had killed the king of a foreign nation without the permission.

But now was not the time to bathe in self-pity. He could not return home with only bad news and some of the nobles had caught themselves rather quickly. One of them was lady Vasilissa. Sebas sked her:

"I am sorry for your loss, but what is the line of succession?"

She was taken aback for a moment because of the statement. Usually the assassin of a king would either be immediately taken into custody and sentenced to death or be killed on the spot. But this one did not only not try to flee but also wanted to know the line of succession. It was more than just unusual. In her shock she just answered automatically.

"He has many children but he never recognized any of them as legitimate offspring."

As soon as she said this her eyes widened. That meant she had just told the assassin of the previous king that because there was no legitimate heir to his throne she would be the next one in the line of succession. Now she trembled in fear for her own life. What would this man do to her that just chopped her brothers head of without any affords? She quickly dismissed her thoughts though as now was not the right time to act out of emotions. She had to keep a cool head and make the best out of her situation. She was surprised the Sebas' next words.

"Congratulations to becoming the next elven queen lady Vasilissa. But we still have to renegotiate our contract now that I have killed of the previous partner."

Sebas's mind raced. He had to go all out now and hope for the best outcome.

"And you should know that the Sorcerer Kingdom always extends a helping hand to those who decide to become part of it."

Did she mishear him? Did he just offer to become a part of the Sorcerer Kingdom? She needed to get some clarification before she could start to formulate a proper response.

"What do you mean by `become a part of it`? Please elaborate."

"Well, the Baharuth Empire already has become a vassal of the Sorcerer Kingdom and they are prospering for it. The Emperor is still in charge and the tribute to the Sorcerer Kingdom is small enough that raising it among the nobles causes no problems. In return the Empire has seen a rapid economical growth due to cheap undead labor and technological advancement brought about by his majesty."

Vasilissa was at a complete loss for words. The offer that she had received was too good to be true. Not only would this mean that the war would end but it would also bring about prosperity for her people. She had only heard rumors about the recent increase in wealth in the already well of empire though she never knew the reasons. To be able to keep a position in power was only the cherry on top.

She was not cold hearted however. Of course she was saddened at her brothers violent death. And from the reaction of the other nobles one might conclude that he was a loved king. But anyone who would spent only a day in his presence knew how he really was. At best one might say he did not care about his people. The more direct would even accuse him of hating his people. And if she was honest with herself, she would probably be the only one crying at his grave. His children and their mothers never really know him or only knew his abusive side. The civilians only knew that they were fighting a war that was caused by him raping a women of a formally neutral neighboring country. All in all, nobody would miss him. And their situation could only improve by excepting the terms of vassalage. But she was not yet the queen.

"I do not have the power to agree to such a proposal. Not yet at least. But if I become queen I will sign a contract of vassalage. But for now you should leave."

Relive. That was the first thing Sebas felt after hearing the answer of the soon to be queen. He had expected to either be imprisoned immediately or at least be forced to make an unfavorable deal to dissolve the situation. Instead lady Vasilissa had offered full cooperation once she was on the throne. That should not take that long. And though he could understand why she asked him to leave now he had to ask for one final thing.

"Will you also promise to take everyone fleeing from the Slane Theocracy prisoner and hand them over to us?"

He could see that she thought about it for a second. But she answered quickly.

"Only if we get to keep the 5.000.000 gold."

As these were even more favorable terms than the previously negotiated he agreed. After the gold was handed over he set out to say a good bye to the lady for now and give her some scrolls to contact him with. Then he left the elven kingdom to return to the Tomb of Nazarick. Over all he was happy with how his mission turned out. But he was more happy that this trip was over so quickly that he would not miss the opportunity to join the fight against the fools that had caused so much pain for his master by mind controlling Shalltear.

 **A/N Okay so this will be it for the intermission in the elven kingdom. Later I want to come back and do at least one or two chapters in the elven kingdom. For one I think of taking a shot at writing out of the perspective of a refugee coming from the ST but more importantly I want to write something about the other part of Sebas' mission. It did not get much attention right now but a part of his mission was finding out whether this place was suited for Aura and Mare as they are currently relatively alone (with only the three former elven slaves). For now I hope this chapter was ok. I am sorry that after such (relatively long) wait you only got a short chapter. Also I would like to get feedback for this one especially because it is the one I have most struggled with until now and the one I myself are most unsure about. Let me know if you liked it or disliked it.**

 **I will try to get the next chapter out quicker but cant promise anything.**


	8. Chapter 4

_Ainz office, Nazarick_

His battle preparations had barely taken up much time. The only thing that bothered him and that he wanted to be prepared for was the possibility of the existence of a player in the Slane Theocracy. Someone had to have given the "Downfall of Castle and Country" to them. But he could not wrap his head around this. Who had it last? Now he regretted not keeping up with the on goings of Yggdrasil in the last few weeks of the game. It had not been of much interest for him. He had just wanted to keep the Tomb in a good financial situation. Now his laziness came back to bite him in his undead rear. At least he had gotten the confirmation that he was not the only player in the New World. But it would be nice to know for sure if any were still around.

But before he could sink further into thinking there was a knock on the door and the maid on duty announced that Sebas was there to see him. That was a pleasant surprise. Honestly, he had thought that he would take longer for the negotiations.

As soon as he saw the expression on the iron Butler's face he was certain that something had gotten wrong. And if the ever calm Sebas was concerned it would have to be something important. Sebas came up to his desk and genuflected in front of it.

"Welcome back. You may raise your head. Welcome back."

Sebas hesitated for a brief moment before he raised his head and started with his report. In the beginning Ainz had been happy about the report. The current condition of the Elf Kingdom would surely make them more vulnerable and willing to accept vassalage. The longer the report went on, the more suspicious did he become. This Elf King fellow had not sounded like a pleasant partner for negotiations let alone an alliance. When Sebas concluded his report with the death of the Elf King Ainz was more than happy that his undead face could not display emotions or he was sure he would have looked laughable. He was utterly shocked by Sebas report. Even if he had accepted that his servants would react in hostility towards anyone that dared insult him he had not actually thought they would really attack anyone for it. And Sebas was the last one he would expect violence from. On the other hand he had to think about the positives. He had lately taken more time to read and learn what reports actually meant so that he now understood the implications of this report far better than even a month ago. In this sense it was great advantage to be undead. And he had to admit that even if he did not like Sebas method this time around, he could not say that the outcome did not benefit Nazarick. Sebas had not only ensured that the border would be protected and any prisoner would be turned over to them but he had also installed a new and probably loyal queen for the Elf Kingdom.

After a time in silent thought Ainz realized that Sebas was seemingly rather uncomfortable before him.

"Is something the matter, Sebas?", he inquired regally.

"My lord? I have failed the mission and probably ruined any chance at the secondary objective."

 _Ahhhh, the secondary objective. I remember I asked him to see if the Elf Kingdom was a place fit for the upbringing of Aura and Mare._

"On the first point you shall not worry. And you should know that just because it was a failure in the literal sense of establishing good relations with the king you should see the new opportunities that have risen from this incident. Your concern over the secondary objective will fade soon enough. Time will mend their sorrow and they will realize that accommodating the twins will be of great benefit to them."

Sebas bowed thankfully before his lord. _Did lord Ainz plan this from the beginning? His schemes are superb for sure._

"As expected of the one ruling supreme. Everything dances within the palm of your hand."

Ainz wanted to mentally sigh at this comment. He had admittedly already improved his strategies and was now able to understand Demiurge and sometimes even predict the archfiends plans. But to suggest he had planned for this went too far. But he knew the NPCs would not waver at this point. He just had to try and live up to their expectations.

With the support of the elves and the empire he could move on with his mind at least partially at ease.

 **A/N Short chapter to keep this updated through all the stress rn. For this month I have a large assignment to do so the story will only be updated when I really am in the mood to write or when I am done with the assignment. (It is due for the 13** **th** **of March so after that I can commit more time to the story)**


	9. Chapter 5

With his mind at ease a bit more he could finally start to make a move against the Slane Theocracy. In his preparations he had obscured a field near the Slane Theocracy's border so that the army could be gathered without anyone noticing. After he had given Shalltear the command to open a gate to said field the army started to pour out. The monsters that came through sorted themselves according to species so that in the front were twenty pale riders followed by twenty death knights and after that, mainly for show, were around 500 of the lizard man and in addition to them also three of the dragons that Ainz had conquered on his trip to the Dwarf Kingdom. And as backup he had commanded fifty elder lich with one death knight and a number of regular undead like zombies and skeletons per elder lich. These were meant to take care of the conquered cities and rule over them till the invasion was over and a permanent government could be installed.

 _Chamber of the gods, Kami Miyako_

The six cardinals and the Pontifex Maximus had been called for a meeting by the captain of the Black Scripture. This in itself was quite unusual and would normally be seen as an insult to the top brass of the Theocracy. But they knew that the captain was well aware that him calling them in for a meeting and that on such short notice was a grave offense towards them. That could only mean that he had information that was so important or a concern that was so urgent that he was willing to insult the highest ranked individuals in his faith because of it. That was the reason why everyone had hurried over instead of frowning about it and forgetting it. When they were all assembled the captain of the Black Scripture came in followed by the 11th seat, the women known as Thousand Leagues Astrologer. They both had grim expressions on their faces which did not help in expelling the tense air already present in the chamber.

"What is the meaning of this? What could be that important that _you_ dare call _us_ for a meeting? Explain yourself!"

The Cardinal of Wind was nearly shouting this at the two new comers. But they did not even flinch a little bit. They kept their stern expressions and instead bowed before giving their report.

The 11th seat started out telling:

"Today I have come across an anomaly while doing my usual check of the border. One spot is not visible for me. It is the same way as it is when the Sorcerer King is present and concealing himself. That means that he either is personally present at out border or someone of his kingdom was sent there by him with his protection. One way or another I would suggest to treat this issue very seriously. Maybe he has noticed the absence of his monster and concluded that we were behind that."

Now it dawned on them why the captain had called them for a meeting. Until now they had presumed that the undead had not noticed and were mostly relaxed while still careful. If the report was true – and no one would question the report of the Thousand League Astrologer – than that meant that they were in big trouble. The cardinals started to talk over each other in a wild frenzy trying to come up with a plan of action. But what could they even do? They had no information if the Sorcerer King Ainz Ool Gown was personally fighting in the battle or if he sent his troops. And if he _only_ sent his army would it be the legions of the former Empire or would he send his undead minions.

"It would be fitting for the undead if he sent the troops of the Empire. It would cause a lot of despair within our own soldiers to have to cut down other humans."

"But how would he be able to bring them all over here so quickly?"

"Thousand League Astrologer would you be able to spot the legions right now? Have they made a move?"

"Yes. I have spotted them moving out towards the border separately. But they will take at least another two days until they could think about fighting. They are currently one day of force march away from us. That means they would at least need one day after that to regain their strength."

That did not really help putting the minds of the leadership at ease. Their own army was at least on par or even stronger than the army of the former empire. But to reach their borders in time was impossible! Also they were engaged in war with the Elf Kingdom on the West-front. They all knew of the bad situation they were in now. To their surprise the captain of the Black Scripture spoke up.

"I know I have tested you good will today already but might I propose something?"

The Pontifex Maximus signaled him to go on with a nod.

"We have expanded a lot of time and effort and potentially have a war on our hands now to gain possession over a legendary undead monster. So why don't we use it? Even if you did not want to use it against the Sorcerer King himself because you fear he could regain control over it, we could just send it to the Elf Kingdom and in exchange use soldiers that were previously stationed for fighting elves in the war against the Sorcerer Kingdom. If he even is really thinking of attacking. Remember that part of our plan was that he has no evidence that would justify an attack on us. He still cares about outward appearance."

After silence reigned over the room for a few minutes the Pontifex Maximus concluded:

"I think this is the best way to move forward. If none of you have valid objections to this plan than speak now. Otherwise I will give the necessary orders to set the plan in motion. We will not be the first one to strike but we will retaliate immediately. Also I would send the Black Scripture in _full_ force to the front line in case anything as powerful as the Death Knight we captured is amongst the army of the Sorcerer King."

After there were no objections the captain of the Black Scripture had to swallow. Ordering to send the Black Scripture in full force meant that they would also send Zesshi Zetsumei along with them. The guardian of the treasury rarely left her post. This only showed how serious the top leadership of the Slane Theocracy took this battle.

After this he and the 11th seat were dismissed and left.

 **A/N Finally I was able to get a chapter done. We are moving further and further towards war. Will it be a "Splat" no. 2 or can they pull of an amazing feat? Well, you are going to have to wait a bit to find out. I hope the wait is worth it to you and I hope you have fun reading my story.**


	10. Chapter 6

_Somewhere between Kami Miyako and the border_

For him it was a weird situation. Sure he had seen Zesshi Zetsumei up close before, even being so privileged as to see her fight in person. But he would have never thought, no, dreamed of fighting alongside his beloved Zesshi. For Time Turbulence it was the perfect opportunity to show how strong he was and gain the respect of the Halfling. But he was not the only one who was under tension. Everyone knew what it meant to send out the guardian of the treasury into combat. Most of them were battle hardened veterans which made it the more surprising to see their expressions ranging from overly joyful in expectance of the greatest fight they would ever witness and the fear of what was to come if even the extra seat was deployed. For the thousands of foot soldiers they were marching with it was a mystery. No one had told them why they were marching towards the border. Nor did they know why they were marching alongside a Halfling of all things. Considering that they just came over from a deployment in the war against elves it was understandable why they were confused.

For Udyr it had felt like something was off since the order to pack up had come in. He was a veteran in the elven war so it was just ridicules to order him away. Their legion was the first one to engage the elves. Of course it was so long ago that he had not personally taken part in the first battles but it was still meaningful for him. There was a certain pride in the fact that he was one of the most experienced elf hunters in the Slane Theocracy. So why? Why make him leave now. Didn't they realize that his talent would best be used against elves? And who was going to fight when they left anyways? And what conflict could be so meaningful that it needed their attention? If a war broke out it should have been known to them. They fought at the outer parts of the Theocracy but they were not isolated entirely from the rest of the world. But he was loyal, a good, soldier and so he got his stuff together and joined his brethren in a march towards a new battlefield. For a time they were contempt with marching together and not thinking about the specifics. But one night, when he was the one on guard duty, a small file of what seemed to be elite troops joined their camp. However he was not curious or stupid enough to just ask them who they were and why they were with them. When the sun rose again they could finally get a good glimpse of who their new companions were. Seeing a Halfling with heterochromatic eyes, something legends said were usually a sign of royalty, only served to make them even more confused. Now some of them started to think of asking their superiors. But before they would go that step they first asked Udyr. After all he was their senior and wouldn't he know the news earlier than all the others? Their disappointment was great when they learned that he had not heard about anything interesting either. But when you leave a whole army to guess what was going on one had to have the right idea at some point. And when someone suggested that this troop was well equipped that they could only be a scripture it made sense for them. Instead of putting out the fires of gossip this revelation was like new oxygen to dwindling flames. Now everyone was speculating what scripture was with them and what a Halfling was doing among them. And who could blame them? Was it not natural to want to know who was covering your back in battle? Of course the rumors and speculations did not stop them from marching onward. And after a few days they had reached the parameter at which they would set up camp for now. This and their proximity to their border answered at least some questions. Camping so close to the border could only mean that the Slane Theocracy was either preparing for an invasion into a foreign country or that the Theocracy would have to defend against a foreign invasion. Though this narrowed down the reasons for their repositioning it did also throw up more questions. They had not been told anything and they also had not received any concerning correspondence from their homes. So now everyone was trying to figure out who they would have to face.

The captain was not worried. The foot soldiers were a little bit skeptic of them but otherwise they were still loyal soldiers. And he could emphasize with them. Though he had never served in the regular army due to his exceptional abilities, he still knew the tingling feeling of the unknown. When he was younger he had felt the same before every new mission. With time and experience he had managed to get these feelings under control but it was understandable that normal soldiers especially those whose only job it was to slay and capture elves were not as proficient as they were. But for this once even members of the Black Scripture could be seen nervously running up and down in their tents. They knew they would win. After all they had the trump card of humanity, Zesshi Zetsumei, with them. That meant that they would only constitute a clear up team. But most of the team was still concerned. An army was gathering at their border and they had no clue if the Sorcerer King was able to produce more of these Death Knights. Rumors from E-Rantel had said that he was using powerful undead as city guards, but surely not legendary monsters at the strength of what they had fought. He sighed. It was no use to over think this now. They would await their orders and try to scout out the enemy till then. And there was still the possibility that the Sorcerer King would not declare war on them. He would gladly let the top brass back in Kami Miyako rack their brains over this issue.

 _Ainz office in Nazarick_

They were observing the enemy army with the Mirror of Remote Viewing. It was impressive how fast the Slane Theocracy was able to gather their armies. In addition to that, the number of soldiers now marching towards the border was even more impressive. Demiurge had estimated that their number was around fifty thousand. Less than the Empire or the kingdoms army but it was not the full force of the Theocracy and it was aided by what they assumed to be the Black Scripture. Sadly Ainz had realized that they had not brought the _Downfall of Country and Castle_ with them. But he was sure that he would get it in time. IF not in the initial battle than at least after taking their capitol. For now it was time to prepare the official declaration of war to the Slane Theocracy. He had no idea how to make one of those so he asked Jircniv for help. With his help they came up with a way to combine the traditional format of such a declaration with the means of the Sorcerer Kingdom. The result was something that would guarantee fear in the heart of the Slane Theocracy.

 _In Kami Miyako_

The sun rose in a beautiful clear sky. It was a wonderful sight to behold and it promised the wake of an even more beautiful day. At least it should have. But in reality the Slane Theocracy had made a mistake and now got the bill for it. In the main square of the city were many people. Some were already hurrying along to do business and some just started their day with a morning prayer to the Six Gods. But all of them halted in their steps as soon as they felt the temperature drop. After looking for the source of the sudden drop in temperature a women screamed from the top of her lungs and then collapsed on the ground, unconscious. That got the attention of everyone present and they directed their vision to the point the women had observed before them. Many screams followed and soon chaos broke out. Some were trying to run while others gave their everything to dispel the evil they saw with prayers. The guards whose job it was to protect the citizens were suddenly spellbound by their own fear. The position of guard in the capitol was not meant to be dangerous. The worst of your tasks was the occasional murder but most of the time you just had to take care of homeless people that tried to bag in one of the public squares. Therefore most of the guard was outright useless and the rest had already either soiled their pants, vomited, fell unconscious or did all of the above. The more wealthy of the guards were lucky to have some of Ol' pervy's patented protective underwear but the regular guards were not as lucky. As soon as the cardinals got wind of the smelly situation in the main square they sent out the elite temple guards to return the city to order and defend the civilians. But even they feared what stood before them. Some of the elite guards knew what the monster were that stood in front of them and one of their ranks sprinted back to the cardinals to report:

"Monsters! It is a Death Knight riding on a Soul Eater! What should we do? What can we do?"

Maximilian, the Cardinal of Darkness, interrupted the panicking soldier and told him to wait for orders outside. Then he discussed with his fellow cardinals.

"I have an idea. What if this undead is meant as a messenger for Ainz Ool Gown? Maybe this is his declaration of war. And if not why has it not attacked yet?"

That silenced the cardinals for a while. After pondering over it they came to the conclusion that he was probably right but that there was a problem. Who should they send out to receive the message? Maybe it was a trick to get the cardinals out of their secure hiding spot and into the open so that it could strike them down then and there. Now Yvon had a brilliant idea.

"Why don't we send an angel out? It would not only be a small loss if it died but it would also calm the citizens. From what I have heard until now the general populous of the city has fallen to panic and chaos. So an angel, a divine creature, would surely reestablish trust and calm and order, no?"

They held a fast vote and decided unanimously to have Yvon, one of the strongest divine casters to ever walk the face of the earth, summon one of his strongest angels to oppose the legendary undead rider. They watched the situation unfold with divination magic from the inside of their safe chamber. Everywhere the angel went people stopped running and started praying in devotion to the miracle they had just seen pass by them. Though most of the civilians of the Slane Theocracy had seen Tier one angel summons only few of them had seen Tier two summons and virtually none had ever seen what was flying through the streets towards the square right no. A Tier four angel that was capable of third Tier spells. They thought the angel had been send by their gods to fight the vial creatures. But once in the square the angel just stood in front of the undead and waited. After a few moments the Death Knight asked if the angel was a represent of the Slane Theocracies leadership. It only nodded affirmative and awaited further communication from the other side. This came promptly in form of a scroll that the undead gave to the angel. Bizarre. If you asked anyone who witnessed this moment they would probably describe it as bizarre. Or maybe as absurd or grotesque. In Ainz' opinion this had a very poetic side to it. The completely opposite elements of an unholy undead peacefully communicating with a holy angel, the contrast of the black and red undead and the white and golden angel with its wide and pure whit wings. But the Slane Theocracy was in no position to enjoy the poetic beauty of the moment as they were more concerned with the contents of the scroll.

After the scroll had been handed over the undead just vanished under the scrutinizing vision of the cardinals. Unbeknown to them Ainz had cast an invisibility spell on them from afar. But they could not be bothered to think about his now. The angel had just brought back the scroll and they were probing for any magic hidden inside. To their despair they soon found that the scroll was enchanted with multiple spells from the first Tier up to the fourth. As a measure of self preservation they ordered one of their guards to take it away and open the seal of the Sorcerer King in a distance they deemed safe. The wax broke and the scroll unrolled but nothing more happened so the man brought it back to the cardinals who inspected it further. The layout of the text was mostly familiar and therefore they suspected that the first half of the document was at least coauthored by the former emperor Jircniv. What made their jaws drop was not the high quality of the paper or the writing, not even the Tier four spell, but the lower half of the document which stated:

" _After being presented with the damming evidence against the Slane Theocracy's Black Scripture and therefore in extend the Slane Theocracy itself we have concluded that the unprovoked attack on one of the Sorcerer Kings' servants is a legitimate casus belli (lat.: reason for war). Therefore we vow to not interfere in the righteous war against the Slane Theocracy_."

It was signed and confirmed real with a seal by the Roble Holy Kingdom, The Baharuth Empire and to everyone's surprise the Re-Estize Kingdom.

That threw the cardinals for a loop. How was this possible? Had they not made ample preparations to hide their mission from the undead? Was this a trap laid out by him? Or worse: was there a traitor who had told the details of the mission to the Sorcerer King's agents? Soon enough a heated debate had broken out. Everyone was blaming everyone and everything until Berenice slammed her fist on the table with full force. For everyone who did not know her this might as well be one of the weirdest things to witness today. A over fifty summers old women who would normally be described as caring and motherly now had a furious look on her chubby face and stared daggers into the other cardinals. Such an out brake by her commanded immediate silence from every one present.

"FOCUS! This is exactly what the undead wants. He managed to provoke discord and resentment among human nations and even among _you!_ You are supposed to be the once to keep a cool head in tight situations and the people place their trust in you. Do you really want to disappoint them and disgrace the divine position you were granted by the gods?"

Even the highest ranking officials of the Slane Theocracy had the decency to look down with faces that were now not red from anger anymore but red from the shame of their failure to see through the schemes of Ainz Ool Gown.

"It was probably a trap from the beginning on. But now we have to act swiftly and decisively. Our army and the Black Scripture are both already encamped at the border. Even if he is intimidating we will give him hell! "

With their spirits lifted again the Cardinals composed themselves and began organizing just to be thrown for a loop again after analyzing the paper and the spells used on it. Turns out that the spells were only used to preserve the declaration of war. They could not damage it by ripping and tearing at it nor by burning it. This mundane use of magic just to protect some paper made the scope of the mistake clear to them again. But now was too late to pull out and they gave their orders for the troops at the border….

 **A/N Sorry for the long wait. Currently my router (for internet, TV and phone) is broken so I will have some time to write again. While the circumstances are quite unlucky I will try to set aside at least an hour or two everyday to write a chapter and then upload it with the data plan of my Smartphone.**

 **If you like my story please let me know in the reviews.**

 **P.S. Pervy I have no internet so I could not look up the exact term for the protective underwear. If you could correct me it would be much appreciated and corrected as soon as I have my new router.**


	11. Chapter 7

**A/N Sorry for the long wait. I recently had internet problems and after that I just had problems with the overall writing process I use. As I stated in the beginning this is my first ever fanfic so I am not as prepared as most others. I did not even think more than maybe fifty people would bother reading the first chapter. To now see that not only did over 1.4k people read the first chapter but around three hundred staying around till the last chapter is just mind boggling. But it is also very stressing. At first I just started to write whenever I had an idea and I had no clue where to take this story overall. I mean the title and the overall position most overlord fans share towards the Slane theocracy made it rather clear that this would not have a happy ending (at least in the traditional sense). But that was it. Every chapter was a new day, a new me, a new story. Then during this long weekend (we have a holiday right now, therefore a few days off) I wrote a somewhat longer chapter but before publishing it I went to bed and slept over it. The next day I re-read it and thought it was garbage. So for the last few days I have been sitting at this one chapter writing it just to start all over again a few hours later. By now I am partially happy because I finally got it done and partially frustrated because I have to find a solution to this soon or updates will be even slower. If anyone has a suggestion for a fix I would be more than happy reading about it.**

 **But for now I have annoyed you enough with my whining and will just give one last warning before diving in to the chapter: I have not read the LN recently (it has been a while) which means sometimes I am not one hundred percent right about stuff or overlook details. Also I am shit at writing combat so please forgive me and enjoy.**

 _The camp of the Slane Theocracy's forces_

They had only been at their camp for a few days now, trying to scout the enemy forces to no avail as no scouts sent out ever returned. Therefore they were happy to be called upon so fast. They were told to engage and test the strength of the Sorcerer Kings army in skirmishes. For this purpose they gathered a small amount of men to operate more stealthy. With only the Black Scripture and three thousand highly trained foot soldiers they were sure to evade the enemy scouts and hit with the added benefit of surprise on their side.

Little did they know that Cocytus was watching their every move with an Elder Lich in attendance to write down the notes Cocytus dictated. As a guardian and faithful servant to the supreme being, Ainz Ool Gown, Cocytus took everything his master said very serious. That meant that when Ainz had lectured them about the capacity of everyone for personal growth he had listened intently and had taken mental notes of everything that was said. What stood out for him was that his master had put a special emphasis on the fact that personal growth was not limited to pure, raw strength. Instead it also included ones brains. For Cocytus in particular that meant that he had to improve his tactical abilities and his capabilities as a leader. He had already started this improvement with the progress that was being made by his servants in the Lizardman village. But to further boost his progress he had asked his master to grant him an Elder Lich as a personal secretary to later be able to revive and study notes without being distracted from his main task by paperwork.

They had believed the element of surprise on their side. That made it only the more shocking when the first member of the vanguard let out a squeal of anguish after receiving a blow from the sharp edge of a magnificent blade that had glowing runes on it. Those standing farther in the back and were able to observe could hardly do so. The Lizardman were suddenly emerged from the woods in front of them and struck with impressive swiftness.

At first Cocytus had not been able to understand his masters intention when calling on the Lizardman to fight in this war. Nazarick housed way stronger units for battle and many of them were raging to take their anger out on the Slane Theocracy. With way more powerful and willing units at hand why choose the Lizardman? But after he saw that the enemy had split his forces he had understood and ordered the Lizardman to attack the three thousand foot soldiers while more powerful monsters were commanded to fight the members of the Black Scripture. For an outsider this might have looked like suicide for the Lizardman. After all they were outnumbered one to six. But they had the superior equipment in form of high quality dwarven war gear. In addition to that, they had received training by the one they regarded as the Martial Lord, Cocytus. This made it possible for them to take on multiple human targets at once and take them out quick to help out anyone struggling. Together with the confusion their sudden attack had brought upon the enemy soldiers they were able to start the battle decisively and gain an advantage over the normal soldiers. Right and left people were cut down with the never dulling blades of the Lizardman. And while the frontline sank into mayhem and chaos the Black Scripture , and therefore the commander of this small army, had their own problems to deal with.

Time had a bad feeling about this from the start. He may seem ignorant on the outside but he had never lost a fight in his entire life which understandably warranted a bit of ignorance. The reason he had never lost was really quite simple. Some had called it a warriors sense, others had praised him for an innate talent. For him it was just a tingling sensation on the back of his neck whenever he faced an opponent that was in one way or the other superior to him and by virtue of this a threat to his life. So he had made it a habit of his to only fight when he not felt that tingling. If he felt it he would just take his legs in his hands and run for his life. (A/N I don't know if taking ones legs in ones hands is a commonly used saying in English speaking countries. If not, it just means that you really run like your life depends on it.) But counter to his intuition he was now ignoring the tingling sensation on his neck for over five minutes. On any other mission he would have immediately asked his captain to turn and retreat for the time being to gather more information and find out what could be the source for his concern. The only reason he broke with this rule on this mission was his beloved Zesshi Zetsumei. He feared that if he made a suggestion for a retreat right now it would not only prop him up as a coward but also pass as an insult to her strength and greatness. And if there was one thing that you could not question about Zesshi it was her strength. She was not hailed as the trump card of humanity by all that knew of her existence for no reason. To this date there had been no incident where she was beaten in a fair and square duel. Therefore he knew that only implying as much as a supposed weakness in their formation would be seen as him holding Zesshi in low regards and with that ending his endeavor to conquer her.

It would not be long until he would curse himself for not listening to his instincts.

Her interest had already been peaked when she had felt the Lizardman closing in. Of course Zesshi had felt them approaching. But only barely which hinted to their superb skills in silent advances and their magnificent gear as only mithril or upwards of that would be quiet. The gear itself was noteworthy. Not as high quality as her own armor and weapon but it was of such quality that she could only imagine adamantite adventurers or someone in a high ranking position to be able to afford such gear.

The others had yet to realize it but she knew then and there that none of the three thousand foot soldiers would return home. It was true that she could, given enough time, shred through them all by herself. But she had felt others present as well. Others, which warranted her attention. She had come a long way already and even though she might not look like it but she was already older than most humans would ever be. And in her entire time she had never fought a dragon. This would be her opportunity to take on what would probably be the strongest monster she would encounter in her lifetime. The other things she felt approaching clearly registered with her as strong opponents but also did not yield any form of recognition thus making them ranking second on the list of interesting things even though the mystery of not knowing what they were was intriguing by itself.

The captain of the Black Scripture mentally face palmed. How could they have expected to go unseen by the Sorcerer Kings servants? It was a blatant error on his end to not first gather information on the other party's information network before attacking. But he was able to asses the ongoing battle in mere seconds with the eyes of a seasoned commander and he concluded that the Sorcerer King had underestimated their fighting power. They would clearly loose if they all were normal soldiers but they had the full power of the Black Scripture on their hand and thus could not loose. He was just about to let out a sigh of relief as he realized that he had been wrong again as he picked up on the sound of massive wings flapping somewhere in the distance but coming closer. Looking over at Zesshi and seeing her enthusiastic expression spelled trouble for the rest of them as she would only get excited at the sight of something that would put up a good fight and potentially even defeat her as this was her biggest fantasy. In turn this would mean that this opponent had to be about the same strength as Zesshi herself. And even if this new threat was below Zesshi's strength it would still be outside of their league. Because of this he had to adjust and now looked towards the closer coming wings with uncertainty and even a little bit of fear nagging in the back of his head. Just as his eyes shot wide open at the realization that he was looking at a frost dragon he noticed the other monsters approaching. He had fought them before. But in his first battle against one of them if was only _one_ and they had an artifact of the gods with them to win against it. But the main difference was that now not _one_ but _twenty_ Death Knights stood before them exuding an aura of unbelievable pressure and killing intent. He looked around frantically to ensure that he was not just imagining things as a hallucination. Sadly he saw only faces of dismay and fear around him. Seeing his legendary Black Scripture in such a sorry state that was barely excusable made him snap. Whilst barking orders he tried to regain control over his subordinates. Obviously Zesshi would immediately go after the dragon no matter what he said. That was only to be expected but he at least got his men and women out of the paralysis they had been in due to the shock of seeing so many legendary undead and feeling their killing intent washing over them, like the sea washing over mere pebbles and throwing them for a loop. After some fast prayers to their gods the fighting spirit of the Black Scripture was restored. Now they would try to find a formation suitable for dealing with such enemies. To their detriment it turned out that even though an incredible amount of unbelievable and outright impossible things had happened over the course of the last few minutes logic was still in effect. Logically speaking that meant that they were fucked. No amount of nice and fancy strategies would work if you were confronted face on by an enemy that was multiple times your strength. To make matters worse was that while thinking and shouting the battle against the Lizardman raged on and it did not look too good right now. About one third of the Slane Theocracy's soldiers had fallen while the Sorcerer Kingdom had only lost two Lizardman.

In his position of spectator Cocytus nodded self satisfied. A little while back this bunch of demihumans had been weak and generally incapable. Now this had changed thanks to the glorious Ainz Ool Gown and his own efforts.

Valor had a mission: Fight till the end! He would either beat his master's enemies and return as the victor or he would die a glorious death. On his way towards the enemy units he had thought about the absurdity of his pledge. There were few who could beat him. As the first born son he was used to only his father being stronger than him. When the new master had brought them to his realm he had assumed that all who could slay him were fellow subordinates to the same master. But looking onwards now he felt that the approaching child was neither a child nor weak or a fellow servant. He smiled inwardly. This promised to get interesting.

 **A/N: The last part is one of those where I am not sure if I am still moving inside the boundaries the canon set for us. Valor is meant to be the oldest son of the frost dragons that occupied the dwarf city.**

 **Anyways I am sorry for leaving you with a cliffhanger but I tried to show some different perspectives in this story. I would guess that I could have written the same content in less than thousand words if I had sticked to one perspective.**

 **Sadly this is a few hours of work so I would very much appreciate feedback. What would you prefer? Short and direct or with different angels and perspectives? (and yes I know that just over 2k words is already short but I started typing at 0:00 and we now have it 2:42 but I wanted to show that the story is still alive.)**

 **Btw. You should see the final draft before typing this. Everything you just read written on four din a4 pages. I showed this to a friend and he said it looked like glyphs.**


	12. Chapter 8

**A/N: A few things upfront. First of all as I stated last chapter I am not always aware of stuff in the LN. And when I wrote chapter seven I had no computer in my reach and my Smartphone is old and slow af which is the reason I did not check the Frost Dragon part, or any part at all. As stated by good ol' Pervy the strongest of the Frost Dragon siblings is Torangealit. For this story I will keep the name Valor, I hope you can forgive me. Secondly, 0November0 I hope I can satisfy your need for detail in this chapter. Third on the list is my inquiry about whether or not you like the multiple perspective writing. So far only one voice has been raised concerning this topic and if nobody objects I will go with more perspectives and angels as spiritj agrees that that is the way to go (though this chapter will be focused on the interaction between two characters mainly so there will only be few opportunities for multiple angels). Last but not least I want to address something that was brought up by Ashkar in a review for chapter ten. As pointed out in the review the term "Halfling" is not really fitting for Zesshi as it usually refers to small people, not mixed race individuals. I will try to not use the term again and if I ever find myself bored to death I will go back to fix this mistake.**

 **Thanks for all the constructive criticism and help in the reviews and thanks for all the positive feedback. After a way too long A/N let's get into a bit more fighting, shall we?**

Background info (taken from overlord wiki):

Racial level for Frost Dragons: Dragonling(10), Young(10), Adult(10), Etc. (10) therefore without any personal level taken into consideration and assuming Valor counts as adult he is at least level 40.

Zesshi Zetsumei: she is confirmed stronger than Lupusregina Beta (who is level 59), but weaker than Shalltear (level 100), yet estimated by the captain of the BS to be able to beat Shalltear when Zesshi is fully equipped and Shalltear is unequipped. Therefore I agree with this reddit post www DOT reddit DOT com/r/overlord/comments/8llss8/zesshi_zetsumei_vs_areafloor_guardians/ and asses Zesshi to be around level 80 and equivalent to level 100 if using all her power and equipment.

Zesshi had not been excited by the prospect of a battle for such a long time that she could not even remember when the last time was. She knew that the proper thing would have been to wait for the orders of her captain and so on. She also knew that he knew her and therefore would probably already assume her abstinence from the main battle. For now she was flying towards her target. Well, flying wasn't exactly right. Rather she was jumping with such power that it seemed like she was flying when in reality she was just making one giant leap. And then she was already in reach for her first swing.

Valor on the other hand wasn't about to get surprise rushed by some small human. Instead he used his freezing breath to stop her advance. A white cloud rushed out from deep in his throat. As soon as it hit Zesshi it started to form into bigger ice crystals until she was fully encased in magically reinforced ice. For the moment it surprised Zesshi. One of her only weaknesses was that she always rushed into battle. Give her a target and off she went. But as all servants of the great one learned: information is key! If dragons could express human expressions on their faces then one would now see a smug grin on Valor's face. Instead one would see the bearing of teeth while Zesshi fell to the ground where her icy prison shattered into little pieces. She immediately got back up and jumped to take a swing at his now exposed belly with her war scythe Certain Death. As a veteran of many battles Valor knew what was coming as soon as she jumped back up. He waited till the right moment came and with a sound like metal hitting metal he closed his claws around her body. He was surprised to see that she was not dead already from that move. The claws of a dragon were not to be taken lightly. Besides being unbelievably sharp and hard they were also as long as daggers. And the force the front legs of his species could exude on someone was no joke either. There had been warriors before this little one who came in impressive high quality armor that he had crushed like a metal can. This was not dampening his mood in any capacity though as that only meant that at the end of the day this battle would go down in history. No matter if he won or lost, he would have done his duty and would be remembered as a strong opponent.

When the Frost Dragon had managed to hold her in his paws she got even more excited. She could feel he tremendous amount of force he was putting out. But she was considered the strongest being alive besides maybe the dragon lords. Therefore she was able to cope with the pressure. What was impressive for her was that the big body of the dragon was able to move swiftly enough to stop her. But she had not used any of her abilities yet. So there was no reason to worry for now. Another thing that took her by surprise was that now, with her in his claws, the dragon folded his wings on his back and went for a dive. Instead of stopping before the impact he used the full force of gravitational acceleration to expose her to the ground in the last second and slam her into the dirt. It was surprising not only for the fact that it was quite an unconventional maneuver but it was also taking the fight to the ground. Usually someone with the benefit of being able to use the airspace would try everything to ground the enemy and attack from above, a safe distance away. After wiggling free from underneath him she leaped back a few feet and patted down her clothes as if to get rid of the dirt she had been slammed into. Then she tilted her head slightly to the side and asked:

"Why are you taking the fight to the ground? This makes no sense and I don't want to fight you when you are handicapped."

Her voice dripped with pride and arrogance.

"Mhh. Didn't they tech you manners where you come from, little one?"

She just looked at him waiting for an explanation. He understood the hint and continued.

"Isn't it common courtesy to introduce oneself before a fight? Well, if you don't want to start I will. My name is Valor and I look forward to this battle."

His words were accompanied by a polite nod during which he never took his eyes of her. She thought for a second if it was worth it and decided that this enemy was strong enough to warrant some respect. And with a bow she announced giggling:

"Fufufu. It seems like we have something in common, I look forward to _beating_ you as well. And my name is Zesshi Zetsumei, extra seat of the Black Scripture."

 _In Nazarick_

Cocytus was proud at his servant's manners. After all he was representing the great supreme being Ainz Ool Gown himself therefore had to conduct himself with a manners. Suddenly he felt another persons aura appear behind him and he heard the regal, deep voice of his master:

"I see he has curtsey."

If it would not have been considered rude, Cocytus would have made a little jump. He was not used for people to sneak up on him but his much was expected of the superb ruler that was his master. He instead prostrated himself before the majestic figure that had appeared behind him and bowed his head until he was commanded to raise.

"Pay me no head. I just wanted to join you in spectating this battle."

Watching the battle again Cocytus noted:

"Her weapon. It is a war scythe. It looks like it is a high tier item from Yggdrasil."

"Right. I remember that it is called Certain Death, a legacy class item. And the name is meant quite literally. Another thing the shitty devs implemented. It gets stronger the more you hit somebody. If the conditions are met, which means the target is at least twenty level weaker than the user and has no protection against instant death magic, it _will_ result in your immediate death after ten to twenty successful hits depending on the luck stats of the wielder and no matter where it hits."

Ainz mentally sighed and was happy that he had remembered this item. It was only because this was one of those event items surrounded be extreme controversy. For high level players, everyone at level 81 or above was save from its main effect after all, it was really not that grate of a weapon and would only see use in role-playing as it was originally released with a full set of clothing. For low level players it would be a pretty unfair item though. It was part of the Halloween event and if you wore the whole set with this weapon you would look like the reaper with skeletal face and hands and all those shenanigans no matter what race your character was in the game. He knew he had some of those outfits stored somewhere as well. And the only saving grace and reason to use this item was the buffs you got if wearing the complete outfit. But without it the scythe was not anything to sweat about.

 _Back on the battlefield_

After introducing themselves they got back to fighting. This time however it was Valor who attacked first. He charged into battle releasing a mighty battle cry that shacked even the other members of the Black Scripture in the distance. Zesshi found this attempt at intimidating her laughable at best. Admittedly the roar of such a powerful beast was intimidating but as she was stronger than this one she did not find it to have any effect on her. When the time came to block the powerful swing performed by the dragon she was more than ready and let the handle of her scythe swing up to block the blow.

He had to admit that the little one was stronger than any human he had previously encountered. At closer inspection he realized that she was not even a human. He could make out the pointy tips of elven ears even if they were not as pronounced as they were in other elves which lead him to the conclusion that she might be a mixed child. One half human and one half elf. This thought made him smile his smug smile again. Ironic how the Theocracy preached human supremacy to the masses but used a being that was not pureblooded to defend them. He did not know much about the Slane Theocracy other than that they were strictly human supremacists and about to be whipped out by his master for angering him. Suddenly he was pulled out of his thoughts by the impact of the sharp blade. He had not even seen her pulling away the scythe from the block position, then jumping to avoid his claws before swinging at him. Her position made it so that the hit would only yield a little flesh wound, no more than a scratch for him. At least that was what he thought. In exchange he managed to connect with a surprise sweep of his tail just to have Zesshi activate Immovable Fortress Fast Recovery.

From Zesshi's point of view the fight quickly lost its appeal. Of course after he killed this Valor guy she would gain the praise that came with killing a dragon but it was not the same. She could admit that this was one of the strongest enemies she had ever thought. No, it was clearly the strongest out of all. But he did not know about the strength that lay within her weapon. She was certain that she could beat him even without it and she pondered whether or not she should switch to a weapon that would not guarantee a safe kill. But she would not disrespect the trust and the respect bestowed upon her by virtue of being the wielder of this weapon that was considered a sacred artifact by many that knew of its existence and origin. Therefore she would gladly loose it and end the fight fast. She had counted the hits. And because she had to only hit him and not inflict grievous bodily harm with every strike she could go for more sneaky attempts to get her stacks. Because of that she was already at eight stacks before she even broke sweat.

 ** _8_**

Valor was growing increasingly frustrated. He knew he was one of the strongest beings alive and he was sure of his strength and inhuman reaction speed. But against this opponent it was not enough. Every time he would go for a swing he would miss by a few inches. The only way he managed to hit the girl was by using a combo of his freezing breath followed by a quick hit before she could break free from her frozen prison. But even when his swings connected it seemed to have no effect. He was puzzled by how this worked. She seemed to have little protection at all. Her outfit was eccentric and only her left arm, right elbow and right leg were somewhat protected. Most everything else was exposed to his direct hits and would still not be damaged. The best he managed was when he had gotten her with his freezing breath and went for a desperate bite attack instead of the usual slashing. This was again something new and together with the surprise of being a new attack it was further concealed by the white mist coming out of his mouth as he approached. When Zesshi realized what he was doing it was already too late and the only thing she could do was raise her arms over her head as protection. While her left arm was protected he was able to damage her right arm. It was the first taste of blood he got in this battle and he was hopeful for a victorious outcome again. Just as fast as his high feelings had come along they dissipated when he saw her healing her wounds with seemingly no effort. This meant he had to go all out if he wanted to win.

She felt him conjuring up his last reserves to beat her finally. She was curious to see what his ace in the hole was and let it happen. To her surprise it was actually a magic spell he cast. She was too stunned to react and got hit with the fireball. However, she was not stunned by the fact that he could cast but by the fact that she had managed to forget that. She had studied dragons a long time as she was searching through all the books in the Slane Theocracy to find a being that would be worthy to impregnate her to create an even stronger child.

He laughed internally. She had not seen that one coming. Now was the time to get back into the race and beat her into submission. His front leg described a wide circling motion coming towards Zesshi's face and hit her, crushing her skull. At least that was the glorious outcome valor imagined and had in fact seen with many other enemies. But instead he felt a sharp pain. Looking down he realized that where his right front paw would have been was now nothing. Further upwards he saw the bleeding stump where the scythe had cut off his arm. He was not able to process this development at first. He was a Frost Dragon. Of course he had scars from times that had gotten him to close to death for his comfort. But nobody had ever managed to do as much as cutting of one of his limbs. In his shock he was like spellbound, only able to watch as the scythe came down with a hissing sound. He closed his eyes and found peace. He had followed his orders and was sure that this elf-human hybrid would not live any longer than his master deemed necessary.

She admitted to herself that the fireball was a good move. If it had been a serious battle this could have killed her and she knew she should be more weary next time facing a dragon. But for now she had to rejoin her comrades and wanted to end this battle. She quickly slashed Certain Death through his upper arm like it was not any stronger than a loaf of bread.

 ** _9_**

It would be over soon. With one last hit intended to decapitate him she went after his head.

*clink*

She felt the resistance against her scythe when it completely ground to a halt after hitting something with the audible sound of metal hitting metal.

 _In Nazarick_

"He might not be the strongest, but he has potential. And the story of a dragon that is fighting for me dying against a servant of the Slane Theocracy would muddy the reputation of Ainz Ool Gown. I trust you can deal with her?"

"Of course my lord!"

The regally spoken words of his master very so typical of the supreme being. Cocytus could have never considered all the possibilities but his master had somehow known that the Theocracy would send a fighter with an item he could identify and give orders to counter. And of course Cocytus could not allow anyone to damage the reputation of Ainz Ool Gown. Therefore he stepped through the gate that Lord Ainz had just created with a simultaneously casual and majestic move of his hand. He had the determination to stomp the opposition because of his conviction to the supreme one and maybe a little bit shame that one of his subordinates had failed or was about to fail the supreme one. To avoid failure Cocytus immediately grabbed the scythe by its shaft as soon as he was through the gate.

 **A/N: I hope this chapter was to your liking. For somebody with virtually no writing experience outside of school essays it is pretty hard to write actual combat. I just have problems with scenes getting repetitive relatively fast:** ** _he swings, she blocks, he uses combo, she is barely effected, he swings, she blocks_** **. You get what I am trying to say? Also holy shit I thought I would write a short combat chapter in like an hour or two. But no, now I am sitting here since 1 am and its currently 5:03 am. I spent a lot of time digging through online posts to find out the strengths of the Frost Dragons and Zesshi. And boy I wish the author had just included the specs somewhere. I of course understand that that would take away some of the suspense but it would also make writing way easier. Btw. Was anyone else surprised by how "low" level dragons in the NW are? I honestly was thinking that they were total units among the eighty's or something along those lines. Also this time I checked a lot more stuff and could honestly not find much about the scythe. I know there is a scene in the LN where it is described in more detail but I didn't want to read a lot of source material in addition to all the posts I`ve gone through already. And the wiki didn't even have the name so I am not sure if the name is even right. But I am sure that Ol' Pervy or any of you fellows will correct my in a (hopefully) respectful review.**

 **I hope this chapter was still ok though.**


	13. Chapter 9

A/N: So my term paper is due tomorrow with a minimum of 8 pages and I currently have a block on that department and still need to write 6 pages. I hope writing this story and therefore focusing on other stuff for a while will help with the block. I am still a noob at writing fighting scenes but I think this will be awesome no matter what just because Cocytus is really awesome.

His head should have flown off with a satisfying 'slurp'. But this did not happen. Instead, she felt the resistance like her scythe had hit a wall. No, not a wall. A wall would have crumbled under the impact of her swing. It had to be either magic or an adversary with superb strength or a martial art like Fortress. When she snapped her head around to see what or who was interrupting her, her mouth dropped wide open. It was extraordinary to get the chance to fight a dragon. But now she looked at something that just seemed outright impossible. An insect holding a battleax in one of four hands stood in front of an oval that looked like it consisted of different kinds of black and exuded power. Just as she saw the gate it disappeared and only left the insect standing. It clicked with its mandibles and exhaled a cloud of white mist.  
With a bow, it introduced itself: "My name is Cocytus, guardian of the fifth floor and superior to Valor. My congratulations on overpowering him but I can't accept to muddy our lord's reputation by losing his head and therefore this fight. I will defeat you for the honor of Ainz Ooal Gown.  
And you Valor… go back to base and ready yourself for another battle after receiving a heal."  
After the black rift in reality had disappeared she still felt a lot of power coming towards her. This lead her to conclude that the enemy in front of her had to be even stronger than the dragon had been. And he had mentioned being the superior to the dragon which would also imply that he is stronger than him. The only drawback was that he was some sort of insect and she did not know if he could propagate with her. But that question would be left for after the fighting was over. This time she did not bother to inform the enemy of her name as she was sure he had watched when she had first introduced himself. After a quick look at him, she had gathered all the information she needed. He wore no armor and had four hands of which only one was carrying a weapon, which looked to be a halberd-type weapon. Under her breath mumbling, she activated two of her martial arts, Flow Acceleration, and Ability Boost. Then she dashed towards the insect's right arm joints as they should be the easiest to hit.  
But before her scythe found her target he had already moved back faster than she could realize with a chirping sound. Though she was no expert in the field of interpretation of heteromorphs expressions she could have sworn that the sound was condescending.  
Cocytus was annoyed. This girl had shown at least a certain degree of strength, actually, she had shown a level of power that was even respectable in Nazarick, but she was lacking in the manner department. When he saw her fight he had thought about asking his master to incorporate her into his forces. But during the battle and in the brief time they had clashed she had shown her lack of respect and self-awareness, two traits that were really important in warriors.  
Therefore he concluded that drawing out the battle was a senseless endeavor and a decisive victory would serve to further to the glory of Ainz Ooal Gown.  
Zesshi did not even see the halberd coming down on her. For a second she did not feel the pain. Only after a few seconds had past and the insect warrior had returned to his starting position with a bloodied blade she realized what had happened. He had dashed forward with incredible speed and swiftness and slashed the blade of his halberd over her neck.  
In Nazarick  
Ainz watched intently. He was curious how Cocytus would do against the strongest being of the New World. And when he struck her Ainz knew it would not sever the head off her shoulders but it would be enough to kill her if she was not healed immediately.  
After the battle, Zesshi was brought to Nazarick, healed and locked up in the frozen prison. Neuronist Painkill would soon take care of her. For now, there were others to be cut down. But her information would be valuable for their invasion and Ainz was the last person to ignore the value of information.  
On the main battlefield  
They tried their best to fight off the undead. But while the Black Scripture started to engage the Death Knights the regular soldiers were dying at an ever-growing rate. After the first shock had worn off they had reorganized a bit better and formed a solid combat line. But even that did not seem to help to hold of the Lizardman with their superior strength and equipment. They would use not only their weapons to cut down soldiers but they would also incorporate their tails in their fighting style and sweep them off their feet while slashing at them.  
To be frank it did not look good for them.  
But the Black Scripture was not doing better in any capacity. They were thirteen and needed multiple members to take on one of the legendary undead. But there were twenty enemies and they could not let them fall into the back of the soldier's combat line. In their desperation, they tried to capture the attention of the undead by attacking with an area of attack spells. Memento Mori was constantly casting Fireball spells but it was to no avail.  
When they realized that the foot soldiers would fall very soon no matter what they did to keep the Death Knights away from them they stopped attacking every one of them and instead reorganized into two attack forces that were targeting one undead at a time.  
Time Turbulence knew they were in a lot of trouble. He liked to think about him in a superior way. He was after all one of humanities strongest. But at this moment he was reminded that he was only one of humanities strongest. These enemies were from a realm beyond human. But he and his comrades fought anyways. A retreat would not be possible anymore so the only chance to break out of their precarious situation was by cutting a hole in the enemies encirclement and try to make a run for it disregarding the soldiers as a necessary sacrifice.  
And when they all worked together they were able to do something. Memento attacked the undead with a Fireball which Time used to attack simultaneously with Quaiesse, also known as the One Man Army. After successfully delivering a few blows Quaiesse summoned one of his beasts to tank the follow-up hit. After the beast attacked it was slashed once by the legendary undead which was enough to incapacitate the beast.  
With this tactic, they managed to wear down their enemy until Time dashed forward, jumped and spun around to decapitate the monster with a final slash. Even that had nearly failed. He had expected to cut like the rotting flesh without resistance but instead, he felt like even the decaying flesh of the undead was stronger than a regular human could have handled. Only by applying all his power and using Limit Breaker, Limit Breaker: Mind, Greater Ability Boost, and Heavy Blow.  
Under other circumstances, he would have let out a joyous cry of victory after defeating such a strong fiend. He could have bragged about it and furthered his loved one's regard for him. But in this situation and after using Limit Breaker: Mind he could barely consider this a victory. While delivering his strike and using his martial arts he had felt not only the mental fatigue that came with using so many martial arts at once but also the ripping of his muscles that came as a downside as Limit Breaker: Mind.  
At last this victory turned into a total loss when he heard the victorious cries of the Lizardman after defeating the foot soldiers and seeing another five Death Knights approaching them.  
Seeing this complete defeat he could not do anything more and just accepted his fate and praying the gods would accept him as a glorious fighter and martyr that gave his life in their service he closed his eyes and waited for the final blow to strike him.  
To his surprise, he never felt the weaved blades enter his body. Instead, he felt his hands being bound. When he opened his eyes again he saw that the group led by the captain still tried to offer resistance while the members of his fighting group were all getting similar treatment to his.  
In Nazarick  
Ainz had to admit that the last stand and the determination of the captain to die fighting was commendable. But then he thought of what they had done to Shalltear, what they had made him do and all respect he had felt towards the warrior died and was replaced by the conviction to make these men and women regret the day they were born.  
He got a first jolt of satisfaction when he saw what the Death Knights did to the captain. He had given the order to not kill the members of the Black Scripture. And fulfilling his order the Death Knights had no other chance to subdue him other than cutting off his limbs one by one. First, his right arm, his sword arm, got cut off. But instead of surrendering he picked up his sword and wielded it in the left. To everyone's surprise, he was able to fight that way.  
On the battlefield  
After it was clear that he would not surrender now the Death Knights took his left arm as well. But like a proper fanatic, this did not stop the captain. With pure hatred in his eyes and foam in and around his mouth shouted out insults and then activated the martial art Physical Boost before charging head-on into one of the undead.  
Of course, that had only the effect of knocking out. Finally, he could be brought back as well. And join his comrades who had already been thrown into the frozen prison, awaiting their audience with Neuronist.

A/N: Hope you liked this and wish me luck. After turning in my term paper I will be occupied with my exam phase but it should leave enough time for at least one chapter every week. Sorry for everyone that thought the Cocytus fighting scene might have been too short but I honestly felt like writing a long, drawn-out fight would have been a bad joke at best. Like, come on… Cocytus kills people like Zesshi as a warm-up. Keep in mind that though she is a rather high-level Cocytus is still a higher level and he has good gear and is very highly specialized at melee combat.  
Anyways please review and have a great day.

P.S. I have started using a program to check my spelling, so I hope it is not as horrible anymore.


End file.
